«Mwelcome! Togliatti is right». Samuele Caputo looked up from the piano and looked at Eduardo Cav in amazement. DeAngelis the owner of Club 22 where he played. She had never seen him angry. “What happened?” he asked curiously. «This» shouted the other placing a 45 rpm on the turntable. Surrender’s notes spread throughout the club in August 1961. «That barbarian Elvis took the liberty of transforming the music and sacred text of Torna a Surriento into a stinking tarantella».
The revenge of Neapolitan music
“And what can we do?” «Declare war on the United States. From today all the songs you play will be translated into Neapolitan. We will fight between the tables, the platform, the sofas, the stools. We will never give up».
He took a sheet of music out of his pocket and placed it on the piano stand. «This is Can’t Help Falling in love». Samuel read the first words. «O’ dicenn’ l’uommin’ / sulo e scieme curruno a du tte» (in the original Wise men say / Only fools rush ined.).
Lucy, the star of the club, and Natasha, the floor manager, entered as Sam rehearsed the first verse. The Knight re-explained the declaration of war. «You can never win,’ Natasha cut him off. The eyes of the three immediately focused on the woman. Everyone knew that she was never wrong with a prediction. “You forgot the jukeboxes. All bars and bathing establishments have one around which young people crowd. Surrender will be listened to millions of times. You have no hope».
At the end of the evening in the pizzeria a few steps away from the club where the four took refuge, De Angelis’ mood was gloomy when the club closed. “Are we abandoning the project?” Caputo asked. “No, it will remain a kind of testimony. It will be like the last charge of the Savoy regiment at Isbuscenskij».
«Cavalié, relax and eat pizza; it’s very good» Natasha tried to reassure him. The owner stared at the woman. “What did you say?”. “Which is very good.” A sudden light illuminated her sad eyes. “What happened on June 6, 1944?” she asked Sam excitedly. “The Normandy landings,” answered Lucy, who had a degree in history. «The opening of the second front» confirmed the Cavalier excitedly.
Pizza: the secret weapon
1955: Two girls enjoy a pizza at the St Peter’s Fiesta deed in Gloucester, UK. (Photo by Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images)
«We will too and hit them with our culture at their weakest point: food. Through Salvatore, the owner of this armory, I meant pizzeria, we will ask all pizza makers to send their children to open places like this everywhere. Money is not a problem: the Naples bank will provide it. We will start in Milan where the inhabitants will be able to eat it even instead of their very sad salami sandwiches».
“They could put it on pizza,” Natasha suggested. “Even the raw ham,” added Lucy. «Artichokes». “Three or four cheeses.” «The sausage and the friarielli». «Olives and aubergines». «It will be like jazz where, with solos, everyone can express their creativity. It will always be pizza» concluded Sam who was crazy about the salami sandwich. Before dipping his fork into his marinara, De Angelis declared: “First Italy and then the world”.
The author
Francesco Pinto was born in 1952 in Naples. He was director of the Rai office in the Campania capital. He has written The Strange Cases of Club 22 (HarperCollins), an ironic cozy-crime set in 1960s Naples: the owner and employees of a night club turn into detectives.
iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED