Evening star., 1943-07-07
Etnu's Island

Sicily is Mount Etna. Triangular
in shape and called Trinacria in very
ancient times, the largest and most
notably important OF the islands of
the Middle Sea is, in effect, merely
single volcanic peak of the chain
which is known as the Apennines in
Europe and the Atlas in Africa. The
stranger, approaching over the water
from the south and west first beholds
the burning hill as broken cone
with floating plume of yellow
smoke. Deep in the heart of the
constantly-rising pyramid eternal
flames send forth the lava and
cinders upon which four million OF
the most colorful and engaging
people in the world plant their olive,
orange and lemon groves, their
almond trees, their figs and peaches
and their prickly pears.
The island always has been famous
for its luXuriant fertility. 1t does not
support forests, yet the traveller from
abroad invariably is struck by the
"extravagant richness of earth"
which characterizes especially the
southern plateau. Sicily has exported
food for uncounted centuries. The
earliest inhabitants are denominated
Sicani or Siculi, and are supposed to
have come from the adjacent African
shore. But nobody really knows their
origin. They left pottery incised
with geometrical ornamentation,
rock-heWn structures which probably
were the tombs of their leaders, few
weapons and a carved bone imple-
ment which resembles something of
the same sort found in the second of
the several cities of Troy in Asia
Minor. Subsequently, workers in
bronze and iron appeared. Their
race is uncertain. Perhaps they were
proto-Greeks. Naxos and Syracuse
were settled by Hellenes about 735
BIC. The latter eventually was the
greatest city of the Mediterranean
basin. Donald Ordway, in his Island
of Fire" says: "On through the ages
Sicily has been a battle-ground OF
Greeks, Carthaginians, Athenians,
Romans, Normans, Spaniards and
French, Garibaldi and his Thousand
turmoil, not tranquility. Only a
few years ago the violent and me-
dieval Malta reigned"
Perhaps the volcano is responsible
for the theatrical, vigorous, aggres-
Sive, provocative character of the
native modern folk. "A Sicilian Is
not tranquil soul. Virgil wrote:
'Etna thunders with horrible ruins
and on recent afternoon the village
of Mascali was buried under fifty feet
of molten rock" One does not expect
cool, placid" civilization in such
shadow. But that is the glory of the
island. The average citizen may
have little love for his own Sicily and
no love at all for the larger Italy, but
he has great Unsuitable love for
himself. His self-esteem is often
ridiculous, frequently exasperating,
and it can be dangerous but
also it gives him in this our era of an
enforced acceptance of the socialized,
organized, standardized man, a vivid
primary color, tang, a flavor that
to some of us is good"
The beauty of the place is pro-
verbal. Flying over it is an expert
ence never to be forgotten. The
Allied attacks on Palermo must have
been made by flyers who hated to
damage such picture Americans
familiar with Etna's island will hope
that resistance will not be prolonged
uselessly to the hurt of monuments
like San Giovanni degli Eremiti, built
by Roger II in 1882, with cloister
which hundreds of artists have
delighted to paint in happy days still
not forgotten.