Skip to content

La mano del padrone of Filippo Anastasi

Journalist and writer, he was director of Rai Giubileo, head of religious information of radio, creator and presenter of Oggi2000, deputy director of Giornali Radio Rai, deputy director of TG2, presenter and editor-in-chief of TG1, correspondent of “Il Messaggero” of Rome.
“Silver Microphone” for television reports on the Horn Journalist and writer, he was director of Rai Giubileo, head of religious information of the radio, creator and of Africa at war, “Saint Vincent” prize for radio journalism, “Padre Pio” award. He is the author, among other things, of Giorni nostri verso il 2000 (Bietti, 1978), Padre Pio, la sua voce, la sua storia (Rai-Eri – Padre Pio, 2000-2002), in several editions and translated into several languages, In viaggio con un Santo (Edizioni Messaggero Padova, 2011), Voci del mondo (Edizioni Messaggero Padova, 2013). Author of numerous docufilms for Rai Uno, Rai Tre, La grande storia, TV2000.
Born in Rome, graduated in literature, he was assistant professor of Modern History at La Sapienza University.

The stereotypes about Sicily are many: the losers of Acitrezza; the mask of one, no one and a hundred thousand; the leopards who want to change everything so as not to change anything; the metaphor of the palm line and the restricted coffee, the beautiful seduced and then abandoned; the handsome Antonio, much coveted by girls, but in fact powerless; the Godfather with his recognizable accent; in short, the more you add.

But the Sicily of the twentieth century, is it really still so? The journalist, writer, Filippo Anastasi, asks and gives a satisfying answer in his “La mano del Padrone” (All around).
A family saga that unfolds throughout the twentieth century in a Sicily where, for once, it is not the mafia to be the master, but an antiquated tradition imbued with Greek courtesy, Arab hospitality and Norman innovation.

The despotic protagonist is Don Carmelo, father master, born poor and become so rich that he no longer knows how to consume the heritage inherited from his wife. The master’s hand falls violently on the lives of his children, marking it forever, in a series of events narrated with meticulousness.

All the characters of the saga take on their own life, always revolving around the “master”, who dominates the scene.
A well-described story that makes us reflect on pain and above all on the mask that each of us is forced to wear sometimes so as not to be blamed, to show ourselves strong in a society that looks only at appearances!

This story is read with inspiration and respect because, Filippo Anastasi, reveals the facts with the typical speeches, the landscape descriptions, the popular traditions of a world in a time when with little we tried to do so much. She introduces us to Pina and everything that breathes around her with the tone of those who would like to tell a fairy tale to children, to warn them of the unpredictable ferocity of adults and to make them understand that their sense of morality and values must have, as its primary task, the ability to protect children from the evils of the world.

This is what a shrewd reader reads between the lines because the author, from the “cunti” of the storytellers and from the oral sources handed down over the years, manages to stay above everything by modulating the tones of a chronicler with those of a poet to offer us the symphony “the hand of the master” made of Sicilian history.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.