Lucio Piccolo and Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
What do Lucio Piccolo and Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa have in common?
If you spend your summer holidays in Capo d’Orlando, besides the beach you can admire an archaeaological site for example the thermal baths Bagnoli or learn about the strong religious devotion and the so-called “Monte della Madonna” with a sanctuary. But, visit Villa Piccolo too, with its late XIX century style, on a hill overlooking the Aeolian islands.
Villa Piccolo
Baron Casimiro started the Foundation Famiglia Piccolo di Calanovella. Here you will appreciate the garden rich in Mediterranean plants as well as the museum, which was opened in 1978. It houses some objects of the family, pottery, paintings and above all letters written by the cousin Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.
Agata, Casimiro and Lucio Piccolo were all cousins of the writer, who is famous for his masterpiece The Leopard.
Barons Calanovella were relatives of the Filangeri family and Princes of Lampedusa. The mother of the three siblings Piccolo was Beatrice’s sister, who was the mother of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. The Piccolo family moved from Palermo to Capo d’Orlando, whose ancient name was Agatirno, keeping in touch with the European cultural background.
During your visit to the museum you can observe:
- a botanical collection of Agata Giovanna;
- the fantasy world depicted in the watercolurs by Casimiro Piccolo;
- and the poems by Lucio Piccolo.
Da torri e balconi protesi
incontro alle brezze vedemmo
l’ultimo sguardo del sole
farsi cristallo marino
d’abissi…poi venne la notte
sfiorarono immense ali
di farfalle: senso dell’ombra.
Ma il raggio che sembrò perduto
nel turbinio della terra
accese di verde il profondo
di noi dove canta perenne
una favola, fu voce
che sentimmo nei giorni, fiori
di selve tremanti il mattino.
“Il raggio verde” L. Piccolo
The cousins Lucio and Tomasi
The writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa often visited Villa Piccolo. In Capo d’Orlando he wrote some pages of The Leopard.
The affinity between Lucio Piccolo and his cousin was also intellectual. Through their letters they showed interest in the English literature. Lucio translated To a Nightingale by John Keats when he was 16 in 1917. And Tomasi wrote an essay about Keats. He enjoyed the literary innovation in Ulysses by Joyce and the Modernism in the first years of the XX century.
Brigida Carrubba
