Pith in the Wind

Archives | RSS

  |  

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Daily Diversion / Silverman Saint Patrick Was Italian (and May Have Suffered From Stockholm Syndrome)

Posted by Jack Silverman on Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 8:41 AM

click to enlarge italian_irish_st_patricks_t_shirt-p235113029381081423umhi_400-thumb-200x200.jpg
So Scene editor Pete Kotz and I are eating lunch with the Savarino's Sandwich Gang a couple weeks ago, when out walks Corrado Savarino with a tray full of sfingi, an Italian pastry of fried dough filled with cannoli cream typically served around St. Joseph's Day (March 19). Naturally, the discussion moves on to the impending arrival of St. Patrick's Day, when suddenly, Savarino's fixture Mike Figlio says, "Hey, you know St. Patrick was Italian," and launches into a detailed analysis of the patron saint of Ireland's Italian roots. (Well, Roman roots, to be exact.) (A little background on Figlio: Not only did he enjoy a storied career as a recording engineer--he worked on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," to name a few--but his uncle was Jilly Rizzo, Frank Sinatra's best friend and bodyguard. In fact, he got to hang out with Jilly and Frank on several occasions back in the day. In other words, when Mike Figlio talks, I listen.) Editor Pete and I sit there awestruck as Figlio regales us with an elaborate 10-minute exposition on St. Paddy that includes family members, dates, locales, you name it. I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday and here he is reciting an Encyclopedia Brittanica's worth of background information, for Christ's sake. (Pun intended.) So I go back to the office and do a little Googling, and lo and behold, Figlio's right. (Hey, if it's on the Internet, it's got to be true.) According to most sources, Patrick was the child of Romans living in Britain--Calpurnius (a military officer) and Concessa. (Of course, back then, the Roman Empire included nearly all of what is now Europe.) At age 16, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates, taken to Ireland and forced into slavery. After six years he escaped back to Britain, then studied at a French monastery, then moved back to Ireland as a missionary because he had a dream that the Irish were calling on him to tell them about God. (I had a similar dream last week, though I think it was just the MSG in my kung pao chicken.) On a side note: Is it just me, or does this whole story sound like a classic case of Stockholm syndrome? You know, that Patty Hearst thing where kidnapping victims start to sympathize with their abductors? But what do I know. I'm just a landlocked Hebrew from what my neighbors refer to as "the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon Line." All I know from the Irish is that they cook corned beef wrong. And Italians? I know that Italians and Jews have the same mothers, and built Las Vegas together. (And they cook better than the Irish or the Jews.) So goes my nuanced comprehension of European cultures. Happy Saint Patrick's Day. What any of this has to do with green beer, U2, leprechauns or the New York City Police Department, I have no clue. Now pass the sfingi.

Tags: , , , , ,

Comments (8)

Showing 1-8 of 8

Add a comment

Jack,
You've unleashed a shit storm. I sent your post to an Irish friend in New York. He responded with this: http://tinyurl.com/bntd6x.
Everything we think we know is collapsing.

report   
Posted by Joe P. on March 17, 2009 at 9:33 AM

Aargh. What kind of blog software includes the period in the link? Try this:
http://tinyurl.com/bntd6x

report   
Posted by Joe P. on March 17, 2009 at 9:35 AM

Yeah, right Joe. You had me going until the freckles. You can't possibly tell me that Christopher Columbus had freckles. Hell, the way that guy describes him, he's practically Alfred E. Neuman.
I suppose next your going to question Manifest Destiny. Or suggest that Jesus looked more like me than he did Greg Allman.

report   
Posted by Jack on March 17, 2009 at 9:58 AM

"All I know from the Irish is that they cook corned beef wrong."
- They don't cook corned beef. Go to Ireland and look for a place that serves it. Good luck.
Great article, though...Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

report   
Posted by KevinM on March 17, 2009 at 11:13 AM

So Kevin, they don't serve it in Ireland? This is a specifically Irish-American tradition? I've learned something new.
Well shiver me timbers!

report   
Posted by Jack on March 17, 2009 at 11:20 AM

The way I learned it, The Mc's didn't latch onto corner beef until our Red Sea brethren hepped 'em to it upon arrival on these great shores. The soda bread is all ours though.

report   
Posted by Bawston Sean on March 17, 2009 at 12:49 PM

You ethnics are so adorable with your heritage!

report   
Posted by Ashley on March 17, 2009 at 2:09 PM

Ashley, we're not ethnic. We're culturally enhanced.

report   
Posted by Jack on March 17, 2009 at 3:55 PM
Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS
Showing 1-8 of 8

Add a comment

Top Topics in
Pith in the Wind

Politics (61)

Phillips (42)

Legislature (27)

Arts and Entertainment (19)

Film (19)

Sports (18)

Law and Order (14)

Media (13)

Red State Update (9)

Education (8)

Top Commenters

The SouthComm Set Nfocus | Her Nashville | The City Paper | LEO Weekly | BusinessTN | Music Row | NashvillePost.com | Medical News Papers

All contents © 1995-2012 City Press LLC, 210 12th Ave. S., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. (615) 244-7989.
All rights reserved. No part of this service may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of City Press LLC,
except that an individual may download and/or forward articles via email to a reasonable number of recipients for personal, non-commercial purposes.
Powered by Foundation