Blending excerpts from audiovisual archival material, literary sources, and original video-interviews with direct witnesses of the 1943 Allied Landing in Sicily, the presentation read a largely forgotten pivotal historical event of WWII through the lens of foodways. In Fiore’s approach, as a memory and narrative device, food allows for an alternate history of the liberation campaign through complicating both the myth of the Land of Abundance incarnated by the U.S. military forces and the image of a destitute Sicily that the Americans embraced.

Included in the Jerre Mangione Lecture Series and sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies, the lecture fostered a lively debate among graduate students and faculty alike with a mix of touching family recollections, intellectual curiosity towards the subject, and careful inquiry about the research methodology.

This ever-expanding site available in both and , and configured in mobile-friendly mode accessible via cell phone, is an aggregator of pre-existing forms of knowledge as well as new textual, video, and audio material, gathered in collaboration with professors of the University of Palermo (including the Agrigento branch, Polo Territoriale), environmentalist guides, chefs, photographers, architects, local residents, etc., and co-implemented with Ph.D. students Giacomo Frazzetta and Doğa Tekin. The project was co-sponsored by the Agrigento 2025 Foundation, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Region of Sicily, the Municipality of Agrigento, the Inserra Chair (�鶹��ý����), and UCLA, with the logistical support of the Municipality of Realmonte.

The project has already been covered in other media: , , and .

Short link:

Dr. Fiore shared information about the condition of Italian Americans at the time of Pearl Harbor and described their paradoxical experience of being at once “enemy aliens” in 1942 and supporters of the military efforts with the drafting of large numbers of soldiers of Italian descent, while also being concerned about the fate of their relatives back in the country of origin, since Italy was an enemy up to the Landing. Dr. Fiore also illustrated how the 82nd anniversary of the Landing was celebrated in Licata as part of the programs of Agrigento Capital of Culture 2025. Since the main topic of the evening was indeed the cultural value of the memory of the Landing as part of public history projects, she provided a model that embraces a multi-disciplinary approach in line with the mission of and its Italian chapter, (see SBARCO).

British cemetery (Siracusa)

While this history remains quite unknown to the general public in the U.S., and in Sicily it is still narrated by locals in a fragmented and often partisan way, the landscape tells powerful concrete stories of Italian defense systems developed before the Landing, Allied military structures built after it, and pre-existing places adapted to the war needs.

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Sept. 1943 Armistice location (Cassibile, SR)

Ruins of trenches, firing positions for cannons, and fuel tanks carved into the ground, as well as well-preserved cemeteries, bunkers, plaques, bomb shelters, and quarries functioning as arm deposits have revealed to Dr. Fiore a completely new way of seeing Eastern Sicily, often visited for Greco-Roman archeological sites and Baroque architecture.

 

It is a mostly silent history that is interestingly gaining voice through thematic tours such as those designed by Daniele Valvo and theater re-enactments in key spots (see ) that evoke the experience of frantically looking for a shelter against air-bombings or sadly killing a young soldier in what was a confusing war of allies turned into enemies and enemies turned into allies.

In the process, Dr. Fiore is discovering a plethora of small associations devoted to the collection of military gear (see Operation Husky organization) as well as organizations creating small museums and offering talks and debates: the memory of the event is a space of tension where nostalgia, ideology, archival research, and modern readings interweave and clash, providing rich materials for her sabbatical project.

Italian bunker (Siracusa)

Data: Sabato 13 dicembre
Luogo: Sala Consiliare del Comune di Realmonte (Via Roma, 19) – Parcheggio in via Piazza Vecchia per accedere dall’ingresso principale del Municipio oppure via Venezia per accedere direttamente alla Sala Consiliare attraverso le scale e la terrazza belvedere.

Il sito di mappatura spessa offre percorsi di visita alternativi nella zona dell’iconica Scala dei Turchi. Attraverso una lettura multispecie e multidisciplinare del luogo, attenta a botanica, biologia marina, geologia, gastronomia, cinema e letteratura, il sito invita a entrare in un mondo di storie umane e non, ben più complesso della nota località balneare, e a proteggere con cura e sapienza questo luogo tanto spettacolare quanto fragile. DESCRIZIONE DETTAGLIATA DEL PROGETTO

Ore 10-11:30 Illustrazione e lancio del sito (Prof. in collegamento da UCLA e Prof.ssa Teresa Fiore in presenza)
Ore 12-14 Visita della Scala dei Turchi con pranzo a sacco offerto dall’organizzazione
Guide: , guida naturalistica, e , educatore ambientale

Evento gratuito aperto al pubblico con pranzo a sacco incluso. Numero massimo 50 persone con previa prenotazione obbligatoria. La partecipazione alla presentazione soltanto, senza il pranzo a sacco e la visita, non richiede prenotazione.Per la prenotazione, si prega di riempire questo .

Il sito, configurato anche in modalità mobile-friendly accessible via cellulare, è un progetto co-ideato e co-realizzato dal Prof. Vetri Nathan (UCLA) e della Prof.ssa Teresa Fiore (�鶹��ý����) con il supporto dell’assistente di ricerca Dott. (UCLA) e con i contributi di professori e professoresse di UNIPA, guide ambientaliste, chefs, residenti locali, ecc. Per la descrizione completa del progetto nelle sue varie fasi si veda la pagina web.

Un evento incluso��nel progetto , all’interno di , con la co-sponsorizzazione dell’Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies (�鶹��ý����), UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) e il , con il sostegno del Ministero della Cultura, della Fondazione Agrigento Capitale, della Regione Siciliana e del Comune di Agrigento, con i contributi scientifici dell’Università degli Studi di Palermo e del Polo Territoriale Universitario di Agrigento, e con l’ospitalità del Comune di Realmonte.

NB: In caso di maltempo, la visita della Scala non si svolgerà e il pranzo a sacco verrà sostituito da un aperitivo. La prenotazione resta valida a prescindere dalle condizioni del tempo.

Short link:

Based on her sabbatical research on foodways at the time of the Allied Landing in Sicily (1943), the paper revises the narrative of the American forces feeding Sicilians through the use of eighteen interviews with direct witnesses and scholars sharing stories about the stark contrast between the local wartime food and the industrial food brought by the soldiers from the US. See webpage.

Prof. Cinotto introduced Dr. Fiore’s talk providing special insights into the impact of the landing in Italy in terms of U.S. control of the economic and socio-political sphere.��The students’ questions during the Q&A revealed a keen interest in historical issues, in methodological aspects linked to oral history, and in the encounter of cultures during wartime.

UNISG has an institutional commitment to videos about food. Its film archive directed by Dr. Gabriele Proglio, is devoted to oral history about food, food history, food practices, etc.

UNISG is a private university linked to Slow Food, the movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Focused on food and sustainability, the academic approach privileges collaborative hands-on projects ranging from cooking, cook-book writing, market visits, food history research, eco-agronomy techniques, etc.

The UNISG campus is a World-Heritage (UNESCO) site with its distinctive historical buildings, imposing towers, elegant courtyards, printing office for student-managed publications, student-tended fruit and vegetable gardens, and a unique cafeteria that largely relies on the produce cultivated on campus. All under the watchful eye of the snail, the Slow Food symbol, under no time pressure.

When: Monday, September 22 at 6pm
Click here for the

Speakers:
Teresa Fiore (�鶹��ý����): “Telling the Story of the Landing through an Accessible Multi-media Approach”
Carmela Zangara (Associazione MEMENTO): “A Project to Recover and Enhance the Memory of WWII on the Central-southern Sicilian Coast”
Mirco Carrattieri (moderator)

Included in the broader initiatives of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, the webinar aims to illustrating the various languages used to remember the landing in the past, as well as this year, in order to give proper visibility to an event such as the Sicily Landing that deserves to have a more central role in the official narrative of the war.

Based on the questions from the audience, the debate that will follow intends to collect suggestions for future editions of the anniversary and for the creation of sightseeing routes. Please participate actively to make this rediscovery of the past dynamic and shared as a public history project!

In collaboration with Inserra Chair at �鶹��ý����, , Municipality of Licata, , and .

Other resources: Mirco Carrattieri on WWII and Public History at �鶹��ý����

 

Ex-carcere di Agrigento/Former Prison of Agrigento (Via S. Vito, 45, 92100 Agrigento, Italia)
Oct. 31 – Nov. 28, 2025 (EXTENDED THROUGH DECEMBER 21) FULL DESCRIPTION IN ITALIAN

Diritto di sangue/Rovescio di sangue (roughly translated as Right of Blood/Wrong of Blood) is an exhibit by New York- and Rome-based artist Marina Sagona encompassing 14 prints with paint touch-ups and a 20-minute video with interviews with people who have obtained or would like to obtain Italian citizenship. The exhibit addresses the contradictions of the Italian citizenship law by highlighting how it is available by right to Italian descendants living abroad, even though they have vague or absent ties to the Italian language and culture, while it is challenging to obtain for immigrants living and working steadily in Italy or their children born in Italy. Using as a background the notion of circularity of migration from/to Italy developed by Teresa Fiore in her research, the exhibit adopts the perspective of the artist herself as an U.S.-naturalized Italian citizen.

(Rome, 1967) is an Italian-American multimedia artist. After her studies in Rome, she was an assistant to artist Mario Schifano. In 1995, she moved to New York, where she began working as a illustrator for The New York Times and The New Yorker; directed the contemporary art department at FIAC (Foundation for Italian Art and Culture); and co-curated the exhibition Dante Ferretti: Design and Construction for the Cinema at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in 2014. She was an artist in residence in Galatina (Domus, 2019) and Barcelona (Chiquita Room Gallery, 2021). Sagona’s work is expressed through diverse media such as video, sculpture, and installation, and her artistic journey focuses on the dynamics of communication, shared identity, and the collective unconscious (see her audiovisual works: Stabat Mater, Self-Portrait and Your Dream Is My Dream).��

Teresa Fiore is Professor of Italian and Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies at �鶹��ý����, New Jersey. The recipient of several fellowships (De Bosis, Rockefeller, Fulbright), she has held Visiting positions at Harvard, Yale, NYU, and Rutgers University. She is the author of the pluri-awarded book Pre-Occupied Spaces: Remapping Italy’s Transnational Migrations and Colonial Legacies (Fordham UP, 2017), the co-editor of the section “Italy and the Euro-Mediterranean ‘Migrant Crisis’” in the Journal of Modern Italian Studies (2018), and numerous articles on migration to/from Italy.

Diritto di sangue–Rovescio di sangue is included in a broader project called , as part of , with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture, Agrigento Capitale Foundation, the Region of Sicily, the Municipality of Agrigento, and the Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies at �鶹��ý����, with the hospitality of , and the collaboration of ,��and .

A cura di Teresa Fiore e Awen Films

Spiaggia di Marianello, Licata
Mercoledi 9 luglio 2025 Ore 21
INFO:

Su uno schermo posizionato lungo la riva di una delle spiagge dove sbarcarono le forze alleate proprio nella notte tra il 9 e il 10 luglio, un video composto da filmati originali girati nel 1943 farà da sfondo e da motore a una serie di brevi performance narrative e musicali.

Inoltre, gustando un piatto tematicamente ispirato all’evento del 1943, i partecipanti potranno dialogare in modo informale con esperti di storia dello sbarco e condividere loro stessi ricordi, immagini, storie e oggetti all’interno di un progetto di storia pubblica e memorializzazione collettiva che si svolgerà anche nelle giornate precedenti e successive al 9 luglio.

Evento inserito nella programmazione di Agrigento Capitale della Cultura 2025, in collaborazione con Awen Films di New York, il Comune di Licata, l’Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies (�鶹��ý����), l’Associazione MEMENTO, Liberation Route Europe – Italy, La Madia Ristorante, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto di Modica.

***

LANDING: EVOKING THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALLIES IN 1943 ON THE BEACH OF LICATA (July 9, 2025)
An evening of screenings of archival footage, tasting, readings and songs along the sea

Designed by Teresa Fiore and Awen Films

Marianello Beach, Licata
Wednesday 9 July 2025 9:00PM
INFO: (click on ENGLISH VERSION from the top of the page)

On a screen positioned along the shore of one of the beaches where the Allied forces landed on the night between July 9 and 10, a video composed of original footage shot in 1943 will serve as the backdrop and driving force for a series of short readings and musical performances.

Furthermore, while enjoying a dish thematically inspired by the 1943 event, participants will be able to informally converse with experts in the history of the landing and share their own memories, images, stories and objects within a project of public history and collective memorialization that will also take place in the days before and after July 9.

Event included in the program of Agrigento Capital of Culture 2025, in collaboration with Awen Films of New York, the Municipality of Licata, the Inserra Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies (�鶹��ý����), the MEMENTO Association, Liberation Route Europe – Italy, La Madia Ristorante, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto di Modica.

“The Eco-cultures of the Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Steps) in the province of Agrigento: A Multi-species Thick-mapping Site”
Project co-authored by (University of California Los Angeles) and Prof. Teresa Fiore (�鶹��ý����) included in the section S-P-O-N-D-E of the Dossier of (p. 90-92).

This interdisciplinary research and dissemination project has as its main objective the creation of a digital site to expand and deepen the knowledge of a famous coastal stretch of the province of Agrigento, the Scala dei Turchi (Turkish Steps), in the town of Realmonte. The project will produce a “multi-species thick mapping” technique, as developed by Prof. Vetri Nathan via his lab at UCLA, and based on the ArcGIS geospatial platform. The resulting multispecies thick map will function as an aggregator of knowledge and collaborations related to this place. Accessible to the public, this digital resource aims to superimpose various layers (thick mapping) to tell the “co-becoming” of many lives and landscapes, human and otherwise. Each “layer” of the map will focus on an aspect or story of the Scala dei Turchi to guide observers towards the natural, cultural, historical and multispecies (flora, fauna, humans) interweavings that support the complexity and diversity of the place. The thick-mapping site, to be completed in its initial phase by December 2025, will be a starting point for further initiatives in collaboration with local communities of students, researchers and other knowledge producers.

During the inspection, Prof. Fiore and Prof. Nathan initiated important conversations or completed targeted visits to the Scala dei Turchi. (Architecture, University of Palermo, Agrigento Campus) provided materials related to the removal of eco-monsters in the Scala dei Turchi area (a study that won a special mention) and the geographical-anthropological relationship between Realmonte and its coast.

Prof. Teresa Fiore, Prof. Valeria Scavone and Prof. Vetri Nathan in the historical center of Agrigento

Environmental educators proposed a walking itinerary focused on the coastal flora that reflects the continuous intertwining of sea water, wind and sand/land in the definition of a Mediterranean scrub important for the protection of the ecosystem, as well as for human and animal diets.

(Environmental Marine Biology, University of Palermo) shared his work on the role of the Posidonia (see ), an aquatic plant that acts as a coastal defense barrier and that interacts with molluscs on underwater rocks to ensure its own stable growth.

Prof. Agostino Tomasello discusses his research with Prof. Fiore e Prof. Nathan

A second visit to the Scala dei Turchi, this time with (Geology and Paleontology, University of Palermo) and (Archeology, University of Palermo, Agrigento Campus), brought attention to the fascinating geological history of the area where the famous golden nail is located, indicating the point of passage from the Messinian to the Zanclean plane (see ), and where we observed areas of ancient settlement, not far from the Roman settlement near the Villa, in turn adjacent to a bunker dating back to the Second World War. Precisely that: the amazing stratification of this natural site that will be described in the digital thick map!

In addition to AG25 funding, this project is financially supported by the University of California Los Angeles and the Inserra Fund at �鶹��ý���� in the USA, and will be hosted within the created by Prof. Nathan.

VERSIONE ITALIANA

Le ecoculture della Scala dei Turchi, in provincia di Agrigento: Un sito-mappa di storie multispecie
Progetto del (University of California Los Angeles) e della Prof.ssa Teresa Fiore (�鶹��ý����) inserito nella sezione S-P-O-N-D-E del dossier di (p. 90-92).

Questo progetto di ricerca e divulgazione interdisciplinare ha come obiettivo principale la creazione di un sito digitale per espandere e approfondire la conoscenza di un famoso tratto costiero della provincia di Agrigento, la Scala dei Turchi. Si tratta di una “mappa spessa multispecie” sulla base di un concetto sviluppato dal Prof. Vetri Nathan e implementato sulla piattaforma geospaziale ArcGIS. Il sito-mappa funzionerà da aggregatore di conoscenze e collaborazioni relative a questo luogo. Accessibile al pubblico, questa risorsa digitale si propone di sovrapporre vari strati (mappatura spessa) per raccontare il “co-divenire” di molte vite e paesaggi, umani e non. Ogni “strato” della mappa si concentrerà su un aspetto o una storia della Scala dei Turchi per guidare gli osservatori verso gli intrecci naturali, culturali, storici e multispecie (flora, fauna, esseri umani) che sostengono la complessità e diversità del luogo. Il sito-mappa, da completare nella sua fase iniziale entro il dicembre 2025, sarà un punto di partenza per ulteriori iniziative in collaborazione con comunità locali di studenti, ricercatori e altri produttori di conoscenza.

Durante il sopralluogo, la Prof.ssa Fiore e il Prof. Nathan hanno avviato importanti conversazioni o completato visite mirate della Scala dei Turchi. La (Architettura, Università di Palermo, Polo di Agrigento) ha fornito materiali relativi alla rimozione degli eco-mostri nella zona della Scala dei Turchi (studio vincitore di una menzione speciale) e al rapporto geografico-antropologico tra Realmonte e la sua costa. Gli educatori ambientalisti hanno proposto un itinerario a piedi incentrato sulla flora costiera che riflette il continuo intrecciarsi di acqua marina, vento e sabbia/terra nella definizione di una macchia mediterranea importante per la salvaguardia dell’ecosistema, così come per la dieta umana e animale. Il (Biologia marina ambientalista, Università di Palermo) ha condiviso il suo lavoro sul ruolo della posidonia (vedi ), una pianta acquatica che funge da barriera di difesa del litorale e che nel sottofondo interagisce con i molluschi per assicurarsi una crescita stabile. Una seconda visita alla Scala dei Turchi, questa volta con il (Geologia e Paleontologia, Università di Palermo) e la (Archeologia, Università di Palermo, Polo di Agrigento), ha portato l’attenzione sull’affascinante storia geologica della zona dove si trova il famoso chiodo d’oro che indica il punto di passaggio dal piano messiniano a quella zancleano (vedi ), e dove abbiamo osservato zone di insediamento antico, non lontano da quello di epoca romana presso la Villa, a sua volta adiacente a un bunker risalente alla seconda guerra mondiale. Appunto, la straordinaria stratificazione di questo sito naturale che sarà raccontato nel sito-mappa digitale.

Oltre che da AG25, i fondi per questo progetto provengono dall’Università della California Los Angeles e dal Fondo Inserra di �鶹��ý���� negli USA. Il sito verrà ospitato nel creato dal Prof. Nathan.