March 21, 2007
Dr. Gaetano Cipolla lives and breathes Sicily. It’s in his
blood, literally. The professor of languages and literature, who
was born in Francavilla di Sicilia,not far from Taormina, Sicily’s
resort town, has a profound love for the place of his birth.
Sharing Sicilian culture and language with the world has become his
avocation.
A full-time faculty member in the Languages and Literature
Department of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
where he teaches Italian and Italian civilization to both graduate
and undergraduate students, Cipolla is also recognized
internationally as an authority on the subject of Sicily.
Sicily, he explains, has been called “the world’s first
multicultural society” because it was conquered and ruled by
Asians, Europeans and Africans at different times in its history.
It’s also the birthplace of the sonnet and Sicilian was Italy’s
first poetic language. “Dante,” he notes, “credited Sicilians as
the first poets of Italian literature. There is a vast collection
of Sicilian literature dating from the 13th Century to the present
day.” For a number of years, he has undertaken a variety of
projects to promote that literature, as well as Sicily’s language
and culture.
Most recently, he facilitated and signed an agreement with the
Region of Sicily’s President Salvatore Cuffaro to establish Casa
Sicilia, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of
that region in the United States. From office space in the Empire
State Building that he has called a “mini-embassy,” Casa Sicilia
will promote the image, products and culture of Sicily; assist
Sicilian companies in exporting their products to the U.S.; create
databases of events in the U.S. that might be of interest to
Sicilians; and promote tourism. Lectures and
presentations on Sicily’s contributions to the western world—so
far, six have been offered—are free to the public but, as space is
limited, reservations are necessary.
Translator, Editor and
Publisher
Cipolla--a multi-tasker par excellence--is also a translator, an
editor and a publisher. His published works include seven bilingual
volumes of Sicilian poetry and more than a dozen volumes of
Siciliana Studies. His Siciliana: Studies on the Sicilian
Ethos, which contains his essays on Sicily and Sicilian
literature, and a translation of A. Venezia’s Ninety Love
Octaves into English verse are the two latest. He also penned
an opera libretto, A Lupa, entirely in Sicilian. Legas, the publishing
company he founded, specializes in works on his native land. Its
latest catalogue lists more than 50 works of poetry, history,
language and culture that he designed and produced, and in many
cases, actually wrote or translated.
The Sicilian scholar is also President of Arba Sicula, an
international organization of about 2500 members (nearly 1300 in
the tri-state region) founded in 1979 to promote the language and
culture of his island birthplace. He edits its bilingual Arba
Sicula Journal of Sicilian Folklore and Literature and its
newsletter Sicilia Parra, which reports on the group’s
activities but also includes articles on Sicilian art and poetry
(“Poets,” he says, “are the best ambassadors of culture.”).
Seats on the annual Arba Sicilia tour of Sicily, which Cipolla
has planned and conducted for the past 12 years, are snatched up as
soon as they become available. The tours, he says, are “essential
tools for the promotion of Sicily, for…people who have seen the
island really become the best ambassadors for its culture.”
The editor of the most comprehensive Sicilian grammar text in
existence in the United States, Cipolla is hoping for a revival of
the language. “Sicilian,” he explains, “is a different
language and not, as most people believe, a dialect of
Italian. It was the first language of Italy under Frederick
II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily who ruled much of what is
now southern Italy during the 13th century.” Recently, he headed a
committee that proposed a law to require that Sicilian be taught in
the province’s public schools.
Coached Al Pacino for The Godfather, Part
III
So great are his knowledge and command of the language, he was
chosen as actor Al Pacino’s dialect coach during the dubbing of the
film The Godfather, Part III. Although he spent a considerable
amount of time working with the famous film star, he remains
disappointed that Pacino mispronounced much of the Sicilian he
spoke in the final minutes of the movie.
Next up is a PBS documentary, based on a collection of his
essays entitled, “What Makes a Sicilian?” Supported by a $15,000
grant from the late New Jersey real estate developer Angelo Cali,
the film will showcase the historical, sociological and economic
aspects of Sicilian culture. Cipolla hopes one day to establish a
Sicilian Institute at St. John’s that would offer courses on
Sicilian language, culture, history and traditions; conduct
research; and publish volumes on Sicily. With a library
dedicated to all things Sicilian, it would be the premier resource
center for Sicilian studies in this country.
“Forty percent of the 22 million Italian-Americans in the U.S.
are of Sicilian origin,” Cipolla reports. He wants to reach out to
all of them.