The Florios of Sicily

​This is a grand saga based on a real dynasty who became the powerhouse of Sicily over a period of seventy years from the late 18th century through to the 1860s.

Losing everything in an earthquake, the poor Florio family leave Bagnara in Calabria for Palermo where they struggle against huge odds to rebuild their lives with new enterprises that begin with the sale of spices and medicines and over time will extend to shipping and manufacturing. We can also thank the Florios for things like Italian canned tuna in oil and Marsala wine.

Initially, there are two brothers as partners and when Paolo dies, Ignazio Florio takes the helm. Paolo’s only son, Vincenzo, will inherit the business and for the majority of the book is the main character in a series of public successes and set-backs, political machinations and private passions. Vincenzo’s mother, Giuseppina, is the grand matriarch. She is possessive and angry with her position in life and struggles with conflicted feelings for her late husband’s brother, Ignazio.

Vincenzo, in turn, becomes a determinedly rigid character who is obsessed with rising above the derision and scorn of his business rivals and often treats the love of his life, Giulia, with callous disregard. He carries these same emotions towards his daughters, while his son, also called Ignazio, can do no wrong.

Novels in translation can be tricky and this one has an uneven present-tense construction that may have flowed much better in past tense. Although there are some explanatory passages throughout, there are swathes of politics and history that may be puzzling and unfamiliar to non-Italians, including the many failed rebellions against the rule of the Bourbons. There are also brief or random inclusions of lesser characters who are never fleshed out. The business dealings are described in ways that turn the narrative flat and uninspiring for pages at a time. Yet the personal relationships, especially the emotional conflicts between Giulia and Vincenzo, can quickly bring it back into sharp focus.

Although this took me quite some time to finish, I was glad to have done so, and I was left with great sympathy for the females of the Florio family who are traded like commodities. With judicious tweaking and editing, this might make a good mini-series.

Although this story ends in the 1860s, the Florios continued to make their mark. (It is not known if the author plans a sequel.) Follow this link to more information on the later years of the real Florio family – The Uncrowned Rulers of Sicily.
​
 
Three-and-a-half stars

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

booktopia

---