"Calatafimi" is about the colourful life and the kaleidoscopic
history of an idiosyncratic Sicilian town not far from Palermo, in
the mountainous west of the island. It traces events and uncovers
layer upon layer of the lives of the people there, describing their
ambitions, intrigues and preoccupations, from the time of the
Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans and the
Spanish to 2000. The first major battle fought by Garibaldi during
the liberation of Italy took place in 1860 at Calatafimi, which
mobilized and supported him. What is more, the famous classical
Greek temple of Segesta, together with its ancient theatre, which
is still being excavated, lies immediately over the hill from the
town. Segesta successfully plotted the destruction of its rival
nearby, the city of Selinous.Angus Campbell, who has lived in
Calatafimi for many years, and whose love of the region shines
through - and whose wife comes from a long-established Calatafimi
family - has delved into the extensive local archives, examined the
history of local architecture, farming and husbandry, geology and
religious festivals, and probed into the customs, traditions and
predilections of people in the area, with their proud spirit of
independence. Foreign visitors over more than two centuries, many
of them from England, wrote accounts of their experiences, and
these are liberally quoted, not least those of Samuel Butler, the
author of Erewhon, some of whose photographs from the 1890s are
among the illustrations, including ones of Garibaldi veterans from
Calatafimi.Calatafimi's rich amalgam of observations about the past
and the present, about dynastic enlightenment, ruthlessness and
neglect, about social life, eccentricity and respectability,
generosity and greed, success and failure, will be indelibly
imprinted on many readers' minds.
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