21-28 May 2018
A unique opportunity to experience one of Italy’s best kept secrets.
The week will be a wonderful opportunity to explore the fabulous Aeolian Islands, through the enticing combination of film and food. Based on the beautiful island of Salina, we will visit key film locations (Il Postino and Stromboli included) across the Aeolian archipelago. .This is a tour for all those with a passion and interest for film, food and, of course, Sicily. There will be morning talks, followed by relaxing tours and tastings. The Salina Film and Food Tour has been organised in partnership with Slow Food Sicily and will include admission to Salina Isola Slow, a Slow Food weekend of food tastings, dinners and nature walks around the island.
Prices
Talks, Tours and Tastings: £645 (this includes admission to Salina Isola Slow Festival, all talks, tours and wine tastings).
Accommodation, buffet lunch and dinner:
Euro 490 per person for 7 nights
Euro 595 single occupancy for 7 nights
Tutors
Francesca Marchese is a London-based Sicilian journalist and the founder of SicilyCulture, which organises and promotes events on Sicilian film, food and features to a diverse community of Londoners. She helped establish Cinema Italia UK in 2014 and used her knowledge of Sicilian film to introduce the work of Sicilian directors to British audiences. Previously she spent a decade in Sicily as a TV reporter, with an interest in current affairs and migration.
Geoff Andrews is a writer and historian. He has written two books on Italy (‘Not a Normal Country’ and ‘The Slow Food Story’) as well as other books on British history, including most recently The Shadow Man: at the Heart of the Cambridge Spy Circle. In 2015 he founded Sicily Unlimited, which has the purpose of exploring Sicily’s rich history and culture through talks and summer schools and to promote sustainable links with local people and associations.
Provisional Programme.
Monday 21 May
1pm-5pm. Arrival at hotel A Cannata, at Lingua, a short distance from the port. http://www.acannata.it/ The main arrival point on Salina is at Santa Marina di Salina with regular hovercraft (aliscafi) arriving from Milazzo (approx. journey time 1 hour 30 minutes). (On request we can provide more advice on reaching the island and getting to MIlazzo, and you can find the hovercraft timetable here: http://www.libertylines.it/cms/sw_files/destinazioni/categorie/SUMMER-TIMETABLE-2017–AEOLIAN-ISLANDS-VALID-FROM-20-06-2017_55.pdf) In addition to quality accommodation, our hotel A Cannata also offers excellent food and is one of the recommended hotels for the Salina Isola Slow Festival.
This arrival time is flexible and Monday overall is intended to be a very gentle introduction to the week. Lunch will be available from 1.00 so do let us know your estimated arrival times. We know that you are likely to be tired after possibly a long journey. At 5pm, we will talk through the timetable over granita at the famous Alfredo’s next to the hotel. Before an aperitivo and dinner (7.30) there will be a chance to briefly explore Lingua or just relax. Drinks and dinner will be an ideal chance to meet everyone, including our hosts. Over dinner, there will be a welcome from the organisers of Salina Isola Slow, who will both explain the unique features of the island.
Tuesday 22 May
Breakfast
10:00 -1:00 pm: Il Postino
This will be an introduction to Michael Radford’s 1994 film which was made on the island. In addition to clips and plot description there will be discussion of some of the historical events depicted in the movie.
1:00 pm: Buffet Lunch
1:00 – 4:00 pm. This is a ‘Sicilian’ tour and so we will include periods of relaxation at the hottest part of the day. Most of the visits take place in late afternoon.
4pm-6.00pm Visit to Pollara, and Il Postino sites in film.
6-7.30 pm. Aperitivo at Hotel Signum, Malfa.
8:00 pm Dinner
Wednesday 23 May
Breakfast
10-1pm: Cinema Paradiso
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso and Italian cinema. Sicily’s most famous film will be assessed in its restored version with insight into the inspiration for the character of ‘Alfredo’
1-4pm: Lunch and Relax
4.00pm: Screening of Nuovo Cinema Paradiso at Hotel Signum, followed by aperitivo
8:00 pm: Dinner
Thursday 24 May
Breakfast
Visit to Stromboli, the location for Roberto Rossellini’s 1950 film featuring Ingrid Bergman. The neo-realist context of the film will be explored as well as the wider significance and reception of the film.
1:00 pm: Lunch at Zurro, Stromboli
3.00-6pm Tour of Stromboli Island
.
8pm: Dinner
Friday 25 May
Breakfast
10:00 – 1:00 pm: Sicilian Films:
The place of Sicilian films in history of Italian cinema. (clips from Caro Diaro, La Terra Trema, Salvatore Giuliano, Malena, Baaria and the Montalbano TV film series )
1pm: Buffet Lunch
Visit to Lipari Island.
8:00 pm: Salina Isola Slow starts. Over the next two and a half days, Salina Isola Slow will feature wine tastings (including Malvasia, the island’s speciality), Slow Food dinners at local restaurants, picturesque nature walks and guided tours of the island. It will be a chance to learn more about Salina and its historic traditions. A more detailed programme for this event will be available later. Highlights of the 2015 event can be found here (in Italian) http://www.salinaisolaslow.it/
Saturday 26 May
Breakfast
10:00 – 1:00 pm: Slow Food Nature Walk
1pm: Buffet Lunch.
Sunday 27 May
Breakfast.
10:00 – 1:00 pm: Sicily Today
A look back at some of the themes of the course in an assessment of modern Sicily.
1pm: Caper Tasting at Pollara.
Slow Food Dinner Santa Marina di Salina and Malvasia Tasting.
Reading
If you are interested in doing some light reading ahead of the film and food week, you might find some of the following useful. Joseph Farrell’s Sicily: A Cultural History (Signal Books 2012) is a good introduction to Sicily. On film, you might find the following useful: Geoffrey Nowell-Smith’s Luchino Visconti (bfi publishing): Roberto Rossellini My Method (various editions) and The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture (ed Zygmunt Baranski). For Sicilian food and the Slow Food movement, we suggest the work of Mary Taylor Simetti (for example Bitter Almonds) or Matthew Fort’s Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons which recounts his culinary travels around Sicily on a Vespa; Geoff Andrews The Slow Food Story, and Helena Attlee’s The Land Where Lemons Grow.
