Spaccanapoli

Spacca il silencio – Break the Silence, a threesome from Naples who do Italian singer-Songwriter covers, played last night at ours, after the aperitivo. They arrived two hours late, having got lost on the way, and then need showers and food. But they are not bad, apparently. This morning my suocera phones concerned that there is no sign of them at 10am since they were supposed to see mio suocero at 9am to get their instruments etc from the bar. I go to wake them in the attic space above the restaurant. A smoky voiced tall thin guy comes to the door in response to my Buongiorno. 10 minutes, he says. I bump into them later at the bar having granita and brioche, the Sicilian summer breakfast special. The singer is currently listening to The Virgin Prunes, I am impressed to hear. I intend to recommend him Las Grecas, but forget. Only he works, in Ikea, as well as having the band; the other two are full time musicians, they proudly tell me. They are based in Bologna and came all the way to Sicily to perform their covers. Though they tell me they write their own tracks (they had a few of their own songs interspersed with the de André, Paolo Conte, and Vinicio Caposella, mia cugnata tells me). They want to know where they can get some arancini. They are so clearly not from Sicily, with their bedhead hair, their trendy t-shirts, and long gangly look. A breath of fresh air on a Monday morning in Milazzo.