Ntoniciaddhu e Paliaddhu

inserita il 04 /06 /2010 56 Letture

The stories that I am about to recount are true, and except for one, I witnessed personally and attest to their truth.


Ntoniciaddhu (disparaging name for Antonio) was by trade a blacksmith, but was better known to the andreolesi as the village character. He spent all his time in wine shops ( potighi e vinu) while his forge remained closed. His skill as a blacksmith was negligible and therefore lacked a following of steady clients. He was not an economic threat to other smithies or to himself. What Ntoniciaddhu lacked in forging skills, he more than made up with his sense of humor, especially when under the influence of Bacchus. One day, while half laying in the front stoop of his parents house, Ntoniciaddhu asked of my aunt Mariuzza, who was a next door neighbor, to solve a mystery that had been puzzling him for a long time. The mystery to be solved was as follows: The birds of the air build their nests on treetops, where does the donkey build his? Aunt Mariuzza forgot momentarily her sense o feminine morality, and not being able to resist the temptation to a response, shot back “ammianzu l’anchi e mammata “(between your mother’s legs). The expression was typically used at the time and had been stripped of, and had become immune to moral shock.