Dacia Maraini's "Bagheria"

Villa Valguarnera, Bagheria

If you ever have the chance to go to Palermo, there's a wonderful town outside the city that you must make the effort to see:  Bagheria.  This lovely town is full of villas from the Baroque era, where the Sicilian elite built lavish homes away from the bustle of Palermo!

Dacia Maraini profiles this town in her book, Bagheria, a wonderful (autobiographical) novel about her experiences moving and living there after surviving for several years in a Japanese concentration camp.  The novel is exquisite and is one of my favorite works by this author.

Villa Valguarnera, Bagheria: view of the
countryside

The settings in the book "dance" between Japan, Bagheria and other places of her childhood as Maraini connects them all in this wonderful account of her life and her interactions with various people and places.  Maraini also shifts the "time" in the book - at some points talking about the past while exploring Bagheria in its present, providing a wonderful sense of nostalgia. Brutal in its honesty and starkly descriptive, this book explores several themes:  family, corruption, love, sex, and, as man of her books do, the role of women and their suffering.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is Maraini's accounts of corruption and scandal in Bagheria.  She discusses at length how building projects skirted the rules and destroyed the fabric and cohesion of the town, naming names and pointing the finger at the people, she believes, are guilty of "corrupting" Bagheria's "soul".

If you want to learn more about Bagheria, this is a wonderful book profiles the town, the villas and its history with amazing photography of the villas and the surrounding countryside as well as small chapters devoted to the history of each of the villas.  Also, Giuseppe Tornatore's movie, Baaria, is also an excellent film that features profiles the town and its history (also available from ibs.it or via the iTunes store).


Purchasing suggestions:
The paperback copy of this book is available from several online bookstores.  We recommend ibs.it, and the book can be found here.

Maraini's book is available as an ebook via iTunes (for use on your iOS device) or via ibs.it! If you have a question about what ebooks work on what device, drop me an email -- I might be able to help!

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