Off to Sicily with Mario Giordano

As my friend Don and I plan a late summer trip to Sicily and the Amalfi coast, I've been scrambling to brush up on my shaky Italian and to uncover some light, fun-filled books about Sicily. Author Mario Giordano offered exactly the right mood with the first in a series, "Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions," based loosely upon the life of his own Aunt Poldi. Each is apparently a zoftig Bavarian widow of sixty with a lot of life left in them.

Poldi tends to depression, especially since the death of her Sicilian husband, but her in-laws encourage her to come south to the sun, sea, and glorious foods that Sicily offers. With the help of her nephew she barnstorms around the area of Catania and Mount Etna until she finds a home, one that speaks to her yogic sensibilities, in the village of Torre Archirafi.

Before long Poldi is the most talked about fixture in the town. Her curious, adventurous nature leads her to strike up conversations with everyone she meets, and though her original intent was to drink herself to death while gazing out to sea, she discovers that Sicily has renewed her lust for life, not to mention her lust for all the fine masculine specimens in the uniform of carabinieri.

When the sweet natured young man, Valentino, who helps Polidi around the house, disappears and is then found washed up on the beach with his face shot off, Poldi determines to find the murderer, even as the delicious Commissario Vito Montana warns her not to play Miss Marple. But play she does and a cat and mouse game ensues as Poldi worms her way into people's homes, enlists the aid of her sisters-in-law pulling surveillance at cafes in Taormina (cry me a river!), and generally manages to one-up the investigation of the frustrated commissario to whom she is wildly attracted.

Aunti Poldi may not be as loveable and erudite as Ma Ramotswe but she's bold and brash and a hoot to spend time with. And if you've ever been to Italy then you'll get such pleasure out of reading about the Catania fish market, the little patisseries (in fact Giordano already put me on to one a few blocks from out hotel in Catania), the local wines, and of course, the grappa. In spring of 2019 there will be a follow-up, "Aunti Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna," the first chapter of which was appended to my copy of Lions. Looks like Poldi and Vita may just be a thing!