“We’ll go visit the temples”: The model for the fictional town of Montelusa is the city of Agrigento (Girgenti in Sicilian), which was a major Greek center (Akragas) in antiquity. Seven monumental temples in the Doric style survive in what is known as the “Valley of the Temples,” just outside of modern Agrigento.
Shrimp, jumbo prawns, squid, smoked tuna, fried balls of nunnatu, sea urchins, mussels, clams, octopus morsels a strascinasale, octopus morsels affucati, tiny fried calamari, calamari and squidlets tossed in a salad with orange slices and celery, capers wrapped in anchovies, sardines a beccafico, swordfish carpaccio . . . :Nunnatu (Sicilian for neonato, or “newborn”) are tiny newborn fish, available only at certain times of the year. Octopus a strascinasale is simply boiled in salted water and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice; and affucatu means “drowned,” in this case in a classic Sicilian tomato sauce base for seafood. Sardines a beccafico is a Sicilian specialty named after a small bird, the beccafico (Sylvia borin,“garden warbler” in English), which is particularly fond of figs (beccafico means “fig-pecker”).The headless, cleaned sardines are stuffed with sautéed bread crumbs, pine nuts, sultana raisins, and anchovies, then rolled up so that they resemble the bird when they come out of the oven.
Madamina, il catalogo è questo: Literally, “Here is the list, little lady.” The famous aria from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in which Leporello, Don Giovanni’s servant, enumerates and describes his master’s many female conquests.
Fangio on the Carrera Panamericana: Juan Manuel Fangio (1911-1995) of Argentina was a famous race-car driver who dominated Formula 1 racing for much of his career. He won the Carrera Panamericana in 1953.
the horse . . . was made of bronze and half collapsed, sitting on its haunches, exactly like the RAI horse: The symbol of the RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana, the national, state-owned radio and television network) is as described, and there is a bronze statue of it outside the network offices.The author worked for many years directing television and stage productions for the network.
He broke into “Che gelida manina” in a loud voice: A famous aria from Act I of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème (1896), sung by Rodolfo, the destitute poet and male lead, to Mimì, the beautiful seamstress and lead female role, when the girl loses her key in the dark during a visit to the poet’s garret, and he helps her to look for it. I quote below the first half of the aria, the part from which Montalbano sings a few lines (and not always correctly). I have provided a translation for the non-Italian reader of the passage from which the inspector sings.
Che gelida manina,
se la lasci riscaldar.
Cercar che giova?
Al buio non si trova.
Ma per fortuna
è una notte di luna,
e qui la luna
l’abbiamo vicina.
Aspetti, signorina,
le dirò con due parole
chi son, e che faccio,
come vivo.Vuole?
Chi son? Sono un poeta.
Che cosa faccio? Scrivo.
E come vivo? Vivo.
In povertà mia lieta
scialo da gran signore
rimi e inni d’amore.
* * * [What a cold little hand,
let me warm it for you.
Why bother to search?
We won’t find it in the dark,
But luckily
it is a moonlit night
and we have the moon
near us tonight.
Wait, signorina,
will tell you in two words
who I am, what I do,
and how I live. Shall I?
Who am I? I am a poet.
What do I do? I write.
How do I live? I live.
In my happy poverty
like a great lord
I lavish rhymes and hymns of love ...]
