Antiques - A Glance into Sicily's Past
In a place with such an old history you might be forgiven for
expressing surprise that there are so few antiques in most Sicilian homes
- be it furniture, paintings or everyday items. Not only do most Sicilian
homes lack any sign of life before 1900, most of the residences themselves
are new, the exceptions being the historic palazzi preferred by the few,
having been acquired through inheritance or purchase. Apart from paintings
and sculpture, antique furniture in Sicily falls into two general categories:
rustic arte povera and variations of the Baroque. Most of
what is sold emanates either from churches or from aristocratic homes.
Whether you're a serious collector of antiques or someone who delights in the occasional
find, it's good to know what awaits you in Sicily. There are several phenomena at work here, some of them
particularly felt, and some more welcome than others.
Antiquities exist, of course. Sicily's museums are full of them
and ancient archaeological sites dot the island. Catania and Palermo have
ancient and medieval architecture, even if many of Sicily's ancient Greek
statues have ended up abroad. But by antiques we mean things from
more recent centuries.
At issue is the fact that the great majority of today's Sicilians, whose
ancestors in most cases began to prosper financially only in the twentieth century,
really don't appreciate owning old things as much as Brits or Americans do. As much as some of today's Sicilians
value Sicily's rich historical heritage in a general way (expressed in a passion for public historical sites),
this appreciation doesn't always extend to the personal level (their own possessions), and it partially explains
the dearth of locally-made antique jewelry.
Such observations aren't meant to suggest that all aristocrats - representing an infinitesimal
minority of the population - necessarily respect their material heritage, or that no
nouveaux riches enjoy art and furniture created before the twentieth century.
But the modernizing movement of the 1950s was very strong in Sicily, spawning
a culture that valued everything new, not only refrigerators but buildings,
homes, furnishings and paintings. Very little in this new world made
so much as a passing allusion to the old one. That's one reason why The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa's historical
novel about events in Sicily circa 1860, made such an impact, coming as it did when the events of the Risorgimento
were little more than lines in a history text eclipsed by the more recent memories of the Second World War.
Here's a subtle example of what we mean when we talk about everyday respect for "classic" things in contrast to the
obsession with trendy new ones marketed with an eye to enhancng the owner's social status. Middle-class Sicilians - especially the women - dress well, and
many have a highly-developed sense of color and texture. But only rarely do we encounter the Sicilian gentleman
in Catania or Palermo who enjoys the sprezzatura of a well-worn tweed jacket, the patina of a fine old pair of leather shoes,
or the sense of tradition embodied in an heirloom watch. In Sicily, "new is better." And new that draws attention
to itself (and its price tag) is best of all. In some countries such a mentality is more typical of youth, but
in this part of Italy it seems to have infected almost everybody under the age of seventy, in the process imposing an
ersatz commercial style on consumers.
The analogy here is that, like an old but functional watch, a piece of antique furniture has a history. Common attitudes
die hard, but change is in the air, and Sicily now has more antique shops than ever. While some of the interest in antiques
seems to be aspirational (buying nineteenth-century oil portraits and claiming they're likenesses of ancestors), in Sicily
this kind of motive is clearly the exception rather than the rule, not that one reason for investing in antiques is more
legitimate than any other.
And so we arrive in the fascinating Baroque and Rococo world of Sicilian
antiques, with its occasional splash of austere country culture and the occasional dose
of the imported French or English object. Here's a simplified guide to where to find it:
Palermo: Antichità Civiletti at Via Villareale 52 off Piazzetta
Bagnasco near Politeama, Torta at Via I. Carini 34,
Migliore at Via La Lumia 27, Trionfante at Via Altofonte 89. Palermo has more antique
dealers than any other Italian city south of Naples; there is also a
large permanent flea market in Piazza Peranni (actually a wide street) behind
the cathedral off Via Papireto, and in Corso Amedeo nearby there are
more vendors and furniture restorers.
Catania: Il Tarlo at Via G. Oberdan
116-L, La Rosa at Via Venti Settembre 45-F, Il Casale dell'Arte at Via Plaja 200.
Taormina: L'Agorà at Corso
Umberto 133, Russotti at Via Teatro Greco 7, Lo Turco at Corso Umberto 106.
