Catania and Malta

By the third day of wandering the streets of Catania checking out bookshops along the way I managed to track down a S. Agata Guida alla Festa that had English notes and also a DVD about St Agatha that promises English.  But there were no books in English and I think I need that to move beneath the beatific and horrific in the story of St Agatha.  I even called in to the Biblioteca regionale universitario di Catania and asked if they had anything in English on the saint.  They didn't but the woman on the front desk invited me to go in and browse.

I had a great morning wandering down the dusty stacks where I picked up two interesting items about Malta.  The first was in a large volume on contemporary architects where I learnt that Renzo Piano, the Italian architect who has been invited to submit designs for the old Opera House site and the City gate in Valletta, is concerned about the reality of building as well as with design.  I found this re-assuring.

I also found a very useful potted history of Malta that suggested that Malta has been a powerful indicator of the rise and fall of colonial powers.  She has often been in the possession of nations as they emerge into power and of course has been the battleground of nations struggling for supremacy.  So Malta's current status as an independent republic and a member of EU carries in its history a larger picture than the rocks that make up the small island.

Today, this small island continues cold and damp but the sun has come out to start drying things out.  The prediction is that the temperature will continue to drop to 2 degrees by Monday night and then will start to rise.  I shall be happy to feel some more warmth in my bones!  I've freed up the weekend to catch up with my writing but I must get out moving in the sun as well.  

My next post will focus on St Agatha.  The photo is a poster of St Agatha in prison.  It is outside the Teatro Bellini.  Last time I was in Catania, Carol and I went on a guided tour of this lovely baroque theatre.  I wanted to go to a performance here this time but couldn't make the only show that was on - Macbeth in Italian!