Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [4]
Unlocking their gaze, they turned toward the priest and faced the altar of Santa Maria di Porto Salvo. The church was humble on the outside, simple stone and stucco. But inside, the frescoes that covered every wall turned the village church into a cathedral of dramatic proportions for the fishermen. Scilla’s history surrounded the parishioners and was interrupted only by windows onto its subject; and if the light was right, the view outside became one with the paintings. The tale of the creation of the frescoes had become part of village lore. It was a story built on stories:
One hundred years ago, an itinerant painter wandered into Scilla looking for work. The church had just been built, and the whitewashed walls mocked the parishioners with their poverty. The fishermen invited the painter to a town meeting in the church, where young and old regaled the painter with tales of Scilla. As they spoke, he sketched their faces and gestures in charcoal on paper they normally used to wrap the fish.
The oldest person in the village, Nunzio’s great-great-grandfather Giacomo, told the oldest tale. “Scilla,” he began with great flourish, “was the town Scyllae from Greek myth.” He made it known to the painter that they were all good Christians, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something to the legend—otherwise, there was no explanation for why the waters between Scilla and Sicily were so treacherous.
The painter apologized. “Signore, I am an illiterate man who only knows the stories of the Bible.”
Giacomo smiled. He had hoped the artist did not know of Scylla. He relished the opportunity to recount the chilling legend and to watch his friends’ and family’s faces as they reacted to different parts of the story.
Giacomo eased back into his chair and moved a candle closer to his face. When he described in detail the beautiful nymph Scylla, who was loved by the god Glaucus, he studied the men’s expressions. Giacomo knew they would miss the next part about Glaucus asking Circe for a love potion because their minds had not yet finished caressing Scylla’s lithe and silken body. When he told of Circe’s jealous rage, as she herself was in love with Glaucus, Giacomo saw the disapproval of the women. They sucked in their cheeks and shook their heads at such selfish emotion. The children’s eyes widened when he told of how Circe had turned Scylla into a hideous creature with twelve feet and six heads. “Scylla was cursed to remain on a solitary rock and devour sailors as they attempted to navigate the Straits of Messina,” Giacomo recounted dramatically. The children hugged their legs and drew them into their chests.
“Ever since,” Giacomo directed his closing comments to the painter, “should a sailor survive Scylla’s wrath, he would soon encounter the deadly whirlpool Cariddi, which lay in wait across the strait on the Sicilian side. This is why we say, ‘Tra una pietra ed un posto duro’—‘Between a rock and a hard place.’” Giacomo punctuated the ending by lifting his wine glass to Scylla and Cariddi. The artist captured the gesture perfectly, immortalizing Nunzio’s great-great-grandfather Giacomo as Saint Paul.
Another villager had been waiting for her moment. She had listened attentively to her father’s stories of ancient Scyllae, and when he died at sea she had become the unofficial town historian. Rocking her sleeping child in her lap, she began with great drama: “The blood of one hundred nations courses through our veins.” She pointed into the night as if the painter could see the view beyond her hand. “There,” she announced, “Sicilia. You can practically touch it. Every king and warrior believed they had to control Scyllae to control Sicilia. Scyllae was conquered so many times that the villagers lost track of who ruled the town—and were often reminded by the tip of a sword.”
After many more stories, most of which were true, the oldest fisherman, Agostino Bellantoni, cleared his throat to gain the floor. His feet shuffled beneath him, and he hung his head humbly. “Signore Artista”—his voice was at first tentative but gained