There aren’t many Sicilian songs as famous as the one we’ll discuss in this episode. The song, titled “Vitti na Crozza” (I Saw a Skull), has a history that is both enigmatic and deeply connected to a classic film: “Il Cammino della Speranza” (Path of Hope) by Pietro Germi.

Here are the lyrics we’ll be translating in this episode:

Vitti na crozza supra nu cannuni

fui curiusu e ci vosi spiari

Idda m’arrispunnì cu gran duluri

murivi senza toccu di campani

Si ni eru si ni eru li me anni

si ni eru si ni eru un sacciu unni

ora ca su rivatu ad ottant’anni

lu vivu chiama e a morti ci arrispunni

Cunzatimi cunzatimi stu lettu

ca di li vermi su manciatu tuttu

si nun lu scuntu cca lu me difettu

lu scuntu a chidda vita a sangu ruttu

This time we talk about the "fuitina"! Maybe you heard the romantic version of it. When a couple runs away because his or her family is against the marriage.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t always like that. In Sicily until the end of the 70s, it could happen that a woman could be kidnapped by someone who wanted to marry her against her will.

In this episode, we hear the story of a kidnapping that ended badly. It happened in Sicily in the 1960s and it’s told by someone who knew the guy who wanted to get married and -that time he didn’t succeed.

The movie I recommend to know more is "La ragazza del futuro" (2022).

In this episode, we go to Turin in 1960, where many Sicilians, Calabrians, Apulians went to find a job. "The Way We Laughed," (Così ridevano) by Gianni Amelio, released in 1998, tells a story of this time.