In Italian tradition, stairs often appear in churches, courtyards, and old houses—places where daily life meets ritual and memory. In La Scala Magica, Nino Provenzano draws on this quiet symbolism, using the image of a staircase to explore the passages that define a life.
PRIMO interviewed Nino Provenzano about his latest anthology of poems titled “La Scala Magica.”
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“La Scala Magica” is an evocative title. What does the “Magic Ladder” represent for you personally and poetically?
The title of this anthology, “The Magic Ladder” is the name of a poem which I was inspired to write recently. That title is a metaphor that represents the step-by-step progress toward higher goals. Humans, because of their instinctive curiosity in challenging the unknown, invented the ladder which became the vehicle that sharpened and extended their faculty. From the beginning of civilization that ladder acquired a magic power by making us reach for the high fruits of life. In the poetical realm I see my grandfather climbing the ladder leaning on a fig tree, to fill up a basket with figs to share with everyone. The ladder was always a means at everyone’s disposal. As the technology got more sophisticated and very distant from its humble beginning, the “Ladder” is ceasing to be a means and is becoming an end in the hands of very few. The concept of the magic ladder invites us to step back and put the spotlight on what happens when the means becomes the end.
Much of your work celebrates the Sicilian language and identity. What role does the Sicilian language play in your poetry, and what do you hope readers feel when they encounter Sicilian verse alongside English?
The Sicilian language serves as the primary medium in my poetry embodying Sicilian identity, heritage, history, customs and traditions. It distinguishes my bilingual anthologies where Sicilian originals pair with English translations to preserve cultural authenticity for diaspora audiences. The linguistic choice fosters direct connections with readers sharing Sicilian roots during public recitals. In “La Scala Magica”, just as in the previous anthologies, I use Sicilian because it is the first and instinctive language that enables vivid imagery. With it I explore social issues, environmental reflections, rooting abstract ideas in the vernacular rhythmic oral tradition. The language’s warmth and inflections evoke ancestral memory as seen in dialogues like “La Quartara e la Bacaredda”, “The Socks”, “The Underwear”, etc. When reading my poems I hope my readers feel and see that the Sicilian vernacular mirrors the past and present identity of its people.
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At recent readings, you present poems in Sicilian, with others reading them in English. How do you view the relationship between the original Sicilian text and its English interpretation? Are there emotions that only Sicilian can carry?
I believe that the English translation still carries the emotionally intense, culturally rich and the musical harmony. Even when the listener does not know Sicilian he or she tends to sense an underlying current in rhythm and imagery that distinguishes my poems written in Sicilian. I often hear from my readers that in the English translation, even if only partially, they recognize their grandparent’s world. However, there are some untranslatable nuances, humor, and idioms of Sicilian that cannot be fully reproduced in standard English, so part of the local color and linguistic alterity diminishes.
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Arba Sicula has long championed the preservation of Sicilian culture. How has your involvement with Arba Sicula and the Sicilian literary community shaped the creation of this collection?
Arba Sicula’s core mission is to preserve and promote the Sicilian language and culture through bi-lingual journals, book series devoted to Sicilian poetry and studies. It consistently presents an historical continuum that has helped many contemporary Sicilian poets. All of this has for sure inspired and influenced my writing in ways that reflects my being a witness of Sicilian and Sicilian-American cultures. My learning the English language has enabled me to attract Sicilian-American descent audiences who still remember the sound of the words of their grandparents. This nostalgia often drives my readers to develop new interest in their heritage, the Sicilian language and culture.
Your poetry blends nostalgia with a forward-looking sense of identity. Do you see “La Scala Magica” as a message to younger generations of Sicilian-Americans? What do you hope they take from it?
Yes, I hope that young Sicilian-American readers will take a good deal from “La Scala Magica” especially because it enters an existing effort to reconnect them with language, memory and cultural identity through poetry. The very fact that the book is being presented in Sicilian and English shows that it is positioned to be easily accessible to the younger generation that doesn’t have as much knowledge of Sicilian. As we know, poets are the ambassadors of their culture, especially for the vernacular languages. Through history and poetry, second and third generation Sicilian-Americans can learn that Sicily was and is historically at a crossroad of civilization: Europe, Asia, Africa. Reading a book like “La Scala Magica” can teach new generations that preserving and cultivating the vernacular is to support the biodiversity linguistic of the planet.
You have written poetry for many years. Where does “La Scala Magica” sit in your evolution as a poet? Does this book represent a turning point or a culmination of earlier themes?
“La Scala Magica” is the continuation of the core belief that is rooted in a culture that is old. A culture founded in love, justice, family and social values. In the early stages as a poet, I experimented and explored a lot. In the second phase, emotional resonance was strong and more present. At this stage, my poetry reflects experience, more authenticity, and tonal control. In this collection my readers will pick up irony, humorous sarcasm, and metaphors that deliver the truth.
Here is a poem featured in Nino Provenzano’s new anthology La Scala Magica in English and Sicilian.
“Hello Sicily, I’ve Returned”
Hello Sicily,
I have returned.
You no longer know me,
I can tell, I see it.
But it doesn ’t matter
I recognize you.
I know your mountains,
the sky, your sea.
I know your magic dawns,
your sunsets.
I know your sun,
your winds.
I remember the songs
of your birds,
the smiles
of your people,
who at the procession
of the saints
march with lit torches
at a slow pace.
And I, look at those faces,
and among the many
try to discover anyone I knew.
I smile at those who pass in front of me.
The procession is over.
I came for nothing.
And yet,
the day before,
*I saw and recognized many
when I went to that sacred place
where the living do not sleep and rise.
And in the peace of that cemetery
I wished to embrace everyone,
instead, I cried.
“Ti Salutu Sicilia, Riturnavi”
Ti salutu Sicilia,
turnavi arrè.
Tu un mi canusci chiù,
minn’addugnu, lu viu,
ma un ci fa nenti
ti canusciu iu.
Canusciu li toi muntagni,
lu celu, lu to’ mari.
Canusciu l’arbi chiari,
li toi tramunti.
Canusciu lu to’ suli,
li toi venti.
Canusciu di l’aceddi
li soi canti,
canusciu lu surrisu
di li genti,
chi a la prucissioni
di li santi
sfilanu cu li torci
a passi lenti.
Ed iu, taliu ddi facci,
e fra li tanti
circassi di scupriri un canuscenti.
Surriru a cui mi passa di davanti.
La prucissioni finiu.
Vinni pi nenti.
Eppuru,
Lu iornu prima,
a tanti canuscivi
quannu chi ghivi ni ddu locu santu
dunni chi nun pirnottanu li vivi,
e ‘nta la paci di lu campusantu
Vulia abbrazzari a tutti,
ma chiancivi.
Editor’s Note:Editor’s Note: You can purchase La Scala Magica on the Arba Sicula web site https://arbasicula.org/books/#!//offset=60
Pictured is Nino Provenzano actor Michael Badalucco at a poetry reading event, Nino Provenzano is shown with Tiziano Thomas Dossena, the book cover of La Scala Magica and a recent picture of the poet.
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