AND The Eldorado hotel has been closed for years. From the gate overlooking via Vittorio Emanuele you can see the large garden that dives into the sky. Procida, scent of lemons and quiet, smell of gorse and salt that wrapped the sense of smell and thoughts of the writer Elsa Morante: in a room of this pension, he composed The island of Arturofirst witch prize conquered by a woman, in 1957.
“The novel brought Procida to the limelight of international culture, but she never returned to the island and made her protagonist tell: I don’t want to see Procida as she walks away and confuses, while it becomes a gray thing … I prefer to pretend that it has not existed” he tells us Elisabetta Montaldo, our guide on this island which is literary par excellence. Along the same way his house overlooks, where he has lived for twenty years. From the road, a door and then a staircase of a brick red velvety bring to an internal garden, typical of the houses of here, which conceal surprising flowery oasis.
The passion for the island was born as a child, when she spent the summers with her grandparents. «My grandfather Leonardo Pescarolo was commander of the great ships on which they traveled between Europe and America great celebrities of the time. A cosmopolitan man, who lived in New York, but was born in Procida, a small glory of this maritime city. During a trip, I meet my grandmother, Vera Vergani, famous theater and cinema actress, often on tour in South America».
Family photo: from the left, Giuliano Montaldo with his wife Vera and his daughter Elizabeth; In the center, the grandmother, the actress Vera Vergani. (Alinari Archives)
They fall in love, He with the look and the formal education of the southern man says to her: “Let’s get married, but she has to leave the theater”. “In 2025 one thing so makes goosebumps come,” Elizabeth laughs. But the love story is beautiful, Elisabetta told it in Posidoniasliding on a gallery of gigantic friendships that accompany the brilliant couple in the early twentieth century, from Guglielmo Marconi to Luigi Pirandello, from Eleonora Duse to Arturo Toscanini.
“They were happy, first in Genoa, then on the island of grandfather». Where Elizabeth often returned to shelter after the stumbles of life, like tells in Calipsonovel that starts from childhood Waiting for a beloved mother but kept at a distance from the paternal family (true fishing, another protagonist of our cinema, screenwriter and producer) And he crosses various seasons of the author’s life, between falls and redemptions, against the background of the seventies and eighties. “For me, the house on the island was a landed arrival from storms, a nest that I could live even in thought, the idea of the possibility of returning to a firm hug, land and people” he says. “Because the island is port, from which you can go and return, you do not offend if you leave it, it welcomes you smiling when you come back.”
Like the homonymous nymph the protagonist of “Calipso“By Elisabetta Montaldo is a traveler of life that sinks before re -emerging.
View from the Upper Procida has five tangent bays, ancient craters sunk and brokena natural inclination to be a dock, a welcoming arm for the repair of ships, to protect them from any wind and from any time. «But the sea says his. If he wants, under the slaps of the waves, crumble and change the coasts. It takes away sureness, even to the writer, and this is good. Bring a light, continuous change. Almost inner ».
Procida, a crown of colored houses
Procida has a flat conformation, the highest part is the hill of Earth Murata (91 meters), a spectacular panorama and the medieval village on which the Palazzo d’Avalos stands out, built in 1543 to host the governors of the island and then transformed into prison, from 1830 to 1988. Arturo imagined the prisoners as heroes and leaders, prior to an unfortunate destiny. Elisabetta made us school homework, in the director’s office, together with his daughter, his friend. “On a flat island the wind finds no obstacles, blows, fades the houses, breaks down the thoughts and mixes things,” he says, smiling at the memory.
At the Marina Corricella, the village of fishermen, the range of colored houses opens. A brand of the island, which is proud of it and the press in every souvenir photo. (IPA)
The fan of colored houses opens to the Marina Corricella, a brand of the island, which is proud of it. Is the story true that every sailor, from the sea, wanted to recognize his based on color from afar? «It is poetry of distant hearts, not true. The colors, then, are not as infinite as nostalgia. It was an aesthetic desire, and also a delimit the property, where mine ends up. “
A somewhat chaotic but amazing architecture that culminates in the farmhouse Vascellotowards the Semmarezio district: a maze of homes linked to each other and narrow alleys that flow into a central courtyard. The two entrances of via Principe Margherita and Salita Castello was held, it prevented access to the Saracen enemies. Today, cultural events are held in the central courtyardonce from these houses the famous sailors in the world for their skill started. «So good that the procidana navy was rented by the king or, as happened in the countryside of Egypt, by Napoleon. Then came John Ac- ton, Minister of the Neapolitan Navy, who convinced the king to make his own fleet and, in fact, goodbye Bourbon. Do you realize that here the inhabitants are less than ten thousand; Of these, three thousand are maritime in activity ».
Elisabetta Montaldo, a multi -printed costume designer with silver ribbons and David di Donatello, collaborated with directors such as Tullio Giordana and Ettore Scola. She is the author of essays and novels (“Rafila”, “Posidonia”). The last, “Calipso” (Baldini & Castoldi), is a passionate memoir in which personal events intertwine with the history of our country.
A velvet costume and golden embroidery
If you are a really important character, the cover of Time does not decrease but your statuer in the Neapolitan nativity scene, carved by the masters of San Gregorio Armeno. Since 1600, in the most beautiful artistic cribs, there is one that never fails: Procidana, richly dressed in velvets, thirst and gold. «Procidana represented shipowners. He has a very rich and aristocratic costume, collects materials and artisan skills of the East: the bodices remember the priests of the Palazzo di Cnosso, The gold embroidery was the prerogative of the Arabs, borrowed also from Palermo. News landed by sea trips, become local craftsmanship. When I came to live here stable, twenty years ago, as a costume designer I was very sensitive to the subject. Women no longer knew how to make that spectacular costume, only unique pieces of the eighteenth century remained, lent to the girls for the election of the “Graziella” “…
On the left, the traditional dress of the island women with golden embroidery. Above, vintage postcard. IPA
Yes, Graziella, a myth of the island. In 1843 Alphonse de Lamartine wrote a piece inspired by the tradition of the trip to Italy and the poignant meeting with a simple and romantic girl (obviously destined to end badly). Graziella had enormous success in Europe, consolidating the image of the beauty of Procida’s girls … who compete every year for the election of the most beautiful on the island.
“Result: eighteenth-century clothes kept in some family put to the test by the race that experiences the combination of ambitious girls-brown, often adapted and lightened,” our guide tells us with a little suffering. With a philological job, Montaldo brought to light this particularly complicated dressenriched by a embroidery of gold -wire knots (true) intertwined with silk wire. Based on his designs and research, and the precious hands of one of the latest gold embroiderers of the island, Montaldo reproduced 20 splendid traditional clothes. They are kept in private houses, four has the municipality, someone lends them for the Grazielle parade, but it is rare, since they are precious.
The colorful island of Procida. (IPA)
“The only way to survive these techniques would be to create a school that points to high fashion, but it is difficult.” Pending the new Graziella (it will be chosen during the Sea Festival, from 25 to 27 July), prizes and cultural evenings abound on the island: from the Maretica Prize (September 8) al Procida the island of Arturo (1 September).
In June, there was Procida tells: «Six writers land on the island and look for an inhabitant who intrigues them. They tell their story and the relationship with the island, then they write a story that will read in public with their chosen one next to them. A moment of great emotion ». Many have been the protagonists in recent years, the barber, the postman, the midwife, the fisherman … “Not only the island, but also the people of Procida inspires.”
Where to sleep in Procida
La Vigna Hotel
Via Principessa Margherita 46. In the historic center, a few minutes from the sea, it corresponds to the home of Arturo. In a vineyard of 3000 square meters, with swimming pool and wellness center, you can participate in the harvest. Albergolavigna.it
Where to eat
La Pergola Restaurant
Via Salette 10. In a garden in the center of the island, under a luxuriant lemon pergola. Sea dishes with fresh fish and, from the mountain, the rabbit to the procidana. Tel.: 081 8969918
Knight’s bar
Via Roma 42. Renowned pastry where the typical dessert of the island was born, the tongue: a delight of puff pastry and cream. Tel.: 081 810 1074
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