The She of the Will of the Land: The Lady of the Tell-Me-Why

By GyGy

The book titled The She of the Will of the Land and subtitled The Lady of the Tell-Me-Why is written in an autobiographical style and covers the following aspects: geographical settings, geological settings, historical periods, political issues, socioeconomic situations, and cultural backgrounds.

It is written in the first person singular, which offers to the reader immediacy, and with the mimicry of the various dialogues, it renders to the pages a realistic approach, revealing the particular characteristics of the people presented in the narrative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Aug 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543401516

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by GyGy.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017908927

ISBN:      Hardcover            978-1-5434-0153-0

                Softcover              978-1-5434-0152-3

                eBook                   978-1-5434-0151-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/14/2017

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

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Contents

Chapter 1 Gigliola And Giordano

Chapter 2 Mauro And Tilde

Chapter 3 Reflections On Contrasting Realities

Chapter 4 The Obscure Years

Chapter 5 The Nordic Years

Chapter 6 The Compromised Land

Chapter 7 Penury In The Land Of The Rich

Chapter 8 The Ancestral City

Chapter 9 The Ominous Land

Chapter 10 A Brief Interlude

Chapter 11 The Journey To The South Of The Italic Peninsula

Chapter 12 My Mother’s Ancestral Land

Chapter 13 The Land Of Our Birth

Chapter 14 The Promesing Times

Endnotes

WHYING MY WAY TO THE WHY?

They say…what? A mouse?

         Claiming to perceive the pyramid’s summit?

Hum…perhaps if she were as large as a rat;

But then…knowing the rat’s habitat…

They say…what? A rat?

         Claiming to climb Everest’s summit?

Hum…perhaps if she were as tough as a llama;

But then…knowing the llama’s district…

They say…what? A llama?

         Claiming to think like a high priest?

Hum…perhaps if she were the one l Lama;

But then…knowing the Buddhist’s Karma…

I say…What created the mouse, the rat,

         The llama and the Lama?

Hum…And what if they were as true as Nirvana?

But then…what is the essence of Nirvana?

         Why has the Creator so mystified my Mind?

         Why am I left just with a WHY?

CHAPTER 1

GIGLIOLA AND GIORDANO

It is during a relatively recent period of my life that I began to fear of becoming a doting old lady that I searched for solace among interesting books; I thus came across Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet.

Solace I did not find in these four books, however one important revelation occurred: Alexandria of Egypt was not the idyllic city I beheld it to be.

Among the pertinent themes the quartet delves into, I was particularly struck by the depiction of the decadent socio-economic and political situation of the years preceding and during World War II. The fascinating pages made me reflect that Alexandria suffered from festering social carbuncles I was utterly unaware they existed.

I was born in Alexandria, my parents and grandparents were born in Alexandria, and if the mothers and grandmothers, of both maternal and paternal family branches, have said the truth regarding all their pregnancies we are of European descent. With the exception of my maternal grandfather - who was not born in Alexandria but in Messina, Sicily - our natal city, has been regarded as a great source of pride by all the members of my family.

My maternal grandfather had migrated to Alexandria after a devastating earthquake had killed all his family and destroyed his estate. Francesco Merignano had decided to leave the land he now regarded a cursed land and embarked on a ship, which took him to Alexandria.

There he met an embroiderer of Sicilian origin; she was a pretty, very petite, young woman and he felt bewitched by her charms. My grandfather’s first present for her was to build a chair small enough for her to feel comfortable when she sat on it. Her daintiness must have triggered some loving, paternal feelings in him. The young woman, Santuzza Argenti, fell in love with the tall Sicilian and they were soon married, but their living standards were mediocre as his income was just sufficient to sustain them with a modest décor. He was a house painter.

On the other hand, my father’s family enjoyed a sumptuous life and belonged to the privileged circles of the European upper class of Alexandria.

These were the perceptions I wanted to have regarding both my maternal and paternal living mores.

Much reflection is now needed by me to patiently piece together the realities of the actual truth behind the idyllic concept I had forged in my mind about my natal city and my parentage.

In doing so I am about to penetrate into areas that will expose festering social carbuncles, which like those affecting our native Alexandria, plague our past and present lives.

When my father was in a mood conducive to delve into the past, he liked to recount how he had met my mother and how I had been conceived.

On visiting a high-class pleasure house, he was transfixed by the beauty of a girl called Gigliola who appeared to reciprocate his intense interest in their encounter.

He proposed to her to leave that place and travel with him to Cairo. She agreed and they went to a night club located at the feet of the largest pyramid where they danced under the stars. The twinkle in their eyes¹ was a prelude to my conception, which occurred that very night. They were dancing to the tune of Siboney a melody that thrills me even at present whenever I happen to hear it.

Let us look at them as they were then:

my mother, Gigliola, is twenty one years old, medium height, slender. She has a feminine, graceful deportment, chestnut hair, bob style. She is stunningly beautiful: flawless, fair complexion; vividly brilliant, almond-shaped, large dark eyes; wide forehead; full lips with their corners tending to turn upwards. She is wearing a pearl-grey, knee-length, silk dress, silk stockings and high heel shoes.

Giordano, my father, is 32 years old, he is not tall; he is about Gigliola’s height. He has an athletic physique enhanced by an aristocratic deportment. His intelligent expression is intensely concentrated on his dancing partner. He has wavy, dark Titian, red hair; tanned, freckled complexion; wide forehead; hazelnut eyes; thin lips with their corners turned upwards. He is dressed in a light cream, fashionable suit, white shirt, red and gold striped tie, brown shoes.

Both Giordano and Gigliola are accomplished dancers.

It is the 1st of October 1932, the day their union – which would last until death – begins. I call it union because Gigliola and Giordano are both married but not to each other.

Reflections on their past will give some interesting insights into their vicissitudes.

One year earlier, Gigliola had been rejected by her Greek husband, Nick, when she became ill with pleurisy. Nick’s mother demanded that the engagement ring be returned to the family, the precious ring being a family heirloom. Gigliola obeyed her mother-in-law. Nick’s mother was a socially powerful woman: she was a lady-in-waiting at the palace of the then King Ahmad Fu’ẩd’ I:

‘Leave my son alone…because now that you are ill…you can no longer Kiss Nick or else you would infect him with your malady.’

Gigliola was deeply hurt by her mother-in-law cruel words and had no one to turn to for consolation.

Francesco Merignano, Gigliola’s father and eventually my grandfather, had migrated to Alexandria, Egypt, from Messina, Sicily (as previously stated). At 5.20 a.m. on the 28th of December 1908 an earthquake of 7.1 magnitude had struck Messina leaving terrible devastation within a radius of 300 kilometres and killing 70.000 people. It is still considered the deadliest natural disaster in the history of Europe.

Unfortunately, my grandfather, Francesco became ill when my mother, Gigliola was three years of age. Francesco was told by the doctor that his liver was affected by the impure water of Alexandria and that he should go where he could drink spring water. Somehow, Sicily was beckoning to my grandfather and he and his wife decided to leave Gigliola with Santuzza’s parents and seek a climate that would restore Francesco’s health.

They went to Sicily, exactly where in Sicily I do not know. Sicily proved to be a harsh place for Santuzza whose health deteriorated, whilst Francesco’s improved. The couple, however, had another daughter. At this point I ask myself, when I reflect on the fate of a grandmother who died long before I was born, whether the birth of Pupa was a blessing or was she the cause of Santuzza’s eventual death? Did Santuzza die of tuberculosis or did her health go downhill after giving life to Pupa? What kind of medical support did she have during parturition? In those days, it was normal to give birth at home with only the assistance of a midwife.

At his dying wife’s request, Francesco returned to Alexandria to ask his dead wife’s spinster sister to marry him. His wish and that of his wife was to give the orphan sisters, Gigliola and Pupa, an aunt as a stepmother and not a stranger. Gigliola was then 6 years old and Pupa was three years old.

Serena, Santuzza’s spinster sister, declined my grandfather’s plea. Thus, he decided to sail away to Italy with his little daughter Pupa leaving behind Gigliola who was brought up by her maternal grandparents. The grandfather’s trade was to restore wicker chairs and this meant that they lived in modest conditions, therefore my mother, who liked school and was a very successful student, had to terminate her schooling and go to work aged fifteen. She worked as a switchboard operator for the central telephone company and earned a good salary, which allowed her to afford to dress elegantly.

Giordano too was a married person. He had wedded a Calabrese lady whom was a professor and held a Chair of Philosophy of Theology at the University of Naples. Her name was Leila Costanzo. She had brought to her husband a substantial sum of money as a dowry. This gave Giordano the opportunity to be admitted as a commissioned officer in the Italian Navy, but Leila withdrew the money from Il Banco di Napoli as she was dissatisfied with my father’s unfaithful behaviour. She gave the money to be administered by one of her two brothers who was a lawyer, out of my father’s reach and my father found himself without a situation as he was dismissed by the Italian Navy.

Giordano and Leila had two sons, the first one, Paolo. He achieved to graduate in medicine, but instead of practicing medicine, he became a famous comic actor. The second son, Fritz, became an engineer.

The political reality and socio-economic conditions of the times were not favourable, particularly in Naples, for someone who did not possess technical or engineering skills and was not affiliated to the Fascist Party.

Benito Mussolini² who was the Duce³ of the Italians, had taken steps to create jobs with the following undertakings: the upgrading of arterial roads, especially in the industrial north of Italy; the drainage of the Marshlands of the Po Delta⁴ situated in the north-east of Italy; the building of new post offices and railway stations, all with generous decorations of marble from the quarry of Carrara⁵; the withdrawal of working permits from Jews in favour of those who were affiliated to the Fascist Party.

Despite the above policies and measures, the socio-economic climate, particularly in the South of Italy, created financial hardship for displaced persons such as my father who was not even born in Italy.

My father who was bent on finding a position that matched his high bourgeoisie status, did not perform well as a financial provider. Therefore, his wife, Leila, suggested that he should go back to Egypt; in Alexandria, where, with the established social and business connections his father had enjoyed - she must have speculated - Giordano’s likelihood of succeeding as an insurance broker would certainly be greater than in Naples.

Paolo, his first-born was then six years old and Fritz four years old.

When I come to think of it my father seemed to be indifferent to the lack of contact that existed between himself and his two sons.

Later on Leila would inherit from my paternal grandparents a great asset, among others: Athinả who was the servant my grandparents, when they were in Greece for special medical treatment, had gone to buy in a remote village from a destitute, peasant family. Athinả was then such a retrograde adolescent, that when she perceived the approaching train they were to board to return to Athens, she threw herself on the ground screaming in terror that she did not want to be eaten by that monster. One wonders what kind of patience my grandparents must have mustered and how their kindness must have finally conquered her trust in them.

In Alexandria, as stated before, my father had rescued my mother from the ‘house of pleasure’ where her pride had to endure the humiliation of a fallen woman, as she could not resume her work at the Telephone Company for health and social reasons.

CHAPTER 2

MAURO AND TILDE

Giordano inherited his thick, Titian red hair, from his mother who was endowed with a rich red main. She was Tilde Ricci. Her prowess on a horse was the talk of Alexandria. Tilde rode her horse side-saddled with her red tresses flowing from her athletic shoulders down to her waist. She was fluent in Italian, French, Greek and every day Egyptian Arabic. Her musical instrument was the harp. In the kitchen, she was the absolute mistress and loved to prepare gourmet dishes. The high status of her family attracted a cosmopolitan mix of prominent guests to the assiduously frequented drawing room of her family’s stately home.

I have appreciated the hue of my paternal grandmother’s hair in her youngest daughter’s dining room. There my aunt, Marianna displayed a picture of Bonaparte sitting on a rock, his left elbow resting on his thigh with his hand holding his forehead: a representation of him reflecting on his defeat at Waterloo. The picture was 30x40 centimetres large. It was embroidered with the hair of my grandmother Tilde. I was highly impressed by the expertise and exactitude of the micro-stitched embroidery, having been, myself, a dexterous embroiderer in my youth.

Tilde was romantically pursued by a wealthy businessman, Mauro Scali, who eventually obtained her hand in marriage.

Mauro Scali, sported splendid, long moustaches with curled tips turned upwards. His headgear was a tarboosh – a close fitting, flat top, brimless hat, shaped like a truncated cone, made of felt and decorated with a silk tassel. The colour of his hair was a rich chestnut and he had brown eyes.

He was born in Egypt and was, if not a polyglot, a true linguist, as he was fluent in five languages: the every-day Egyptian Arabic, French, Italian, English, literary Arabic and to a lesser degree of competence, Greek.

Although not altogether surprising, considering Mauro’s many talents, it is nevertheless remarkable to contemplate how he contrived to thrive during the political and religious turbulence of his time in his native country.

One has to reflect on how the governance of Egypt had evolved to glimpse into its complexity.

During that period, ‘Abbẵs Hilm Pasha ruled Egypt. He was born in July 14th 1874 in Alexandria and died on December 20th 1924 in Geneva, Switzerland. He was the last Khedive, viceroy of Egypt. His dominion began in 1892 and lasted until 1914. At the same time, British rule was established in Egypt. However, ‘Abbẵs opposed British hegemony over Egypt and that gave him prominence in the national movement.

In 1914 during World War I, Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire and in December it declared a protectorate over Egypt and deposed ‘Abbẵs appointing his uncle, Husayn Kẵmil with the title of Sultan. In October 1917 Husayn Kẵmil died and was succeeded by his ambitious brother, Ahmad Fu’ẵd I of Egypt. The new kingdom was overtly a constitutional monarchy, but covertly it was lacking independence which prompted Fu’ẵd to declare, in 1923, that the British protectorate was no longer. Furthermore, his new constitution stated that Egypt was an independent, sovereign, Islẵmic state with Arabic as its language. The constitution also provided for a parliament, which would represent the government as an independent country.

There was no custom system in Alexandria and Mauro succeeded in establishing an Official Custom Office. He collected taxes, travelling on horseback to the remote surrounding districts of Alexandria. He also introduced the Boy Scouts Organization in Egypt because he had befriended Baden Powel, a cavalry military officer whom had founded the Boy Scouts Movement. My father, Giordano, became one of its first Boy Scouts.

Tilde and Mauro had three children: Giordano, born on the 19th of May 1900, Fiona, born five years later and Marianna ten years my father’s junior.

When he was seven years old my father was shaven of his beautiful, long, Titian-red main, given a rider’s whip, dressed in a Jesuit schoolboy uniform and sent to the Jesuit Fathers to complete his education. His own father, Mauro, had until then taught him to read fluently and write with perfect calligraphy, French, Italian and Arabic.

Fiona, the second child, was taught, among other subjects, music. The best available teacher in Alexandria taught her to play the pianoforte with a sound technique, which enabled her to play classical music:

‘Fiona played the piano with perfect technique…but her interpretations lacked artistic flair.’

My father would comment about Fiona’s piano performances.

The third child, Marianna, was the temperamental, discipline resistant offspring. Nevertheless, she was taught to play the violin.

In those days and particularly for wealthy families the education of daughters occurred mostly at home with private tutors as the government did not interfere with