A Sicily that offers magnificent vistas, a Sicily made of history, nature, and flavors. Yet it is also a land where mysteries and investigations unfold. This is precisely the portrait sketched masterfully by Agnese Messina in her extraordinary debut The Hermitage of the Mad, a novel published by Garzanti.
A female-led mystery, it winks at readers without envying the pen of renowned noir writers, because the protagonist is a scientist who, thanks to her incredible intuition and abilities, collaborates with investigators and prosecutors to solve cases that seem impossibly tricky.
June McFlynn is a forensic entomologist, an American born in Sicily who also lived in the United States, now back in her hometown, San Ferdinando, where she opened the interdisciplinary Center for Forensic Science and from which she collaborates with the justice system. But what are the places she moves through for investigations? Part of this book, which appears to be the first in a series, unfolds in Catonia and in imaginary villages that, however, could perfectly represent real locations.
In Catania with June McFlynn, the protagonist of The Hermitage of the Mad
It is among the sunlit streets of Catania that June McFlynn, the forensic entomologist at the center of The Hermitage of the Mad by Agnese Messina, often moves. Indeed, it is there that she is headed because of her role as a consultant to the Court of Catania, where her childhood friend and assistant prosecutor Emanuel Zagati works.
Catania is a wonderful city, described in several passages of the novel, though almost never pointing to specific places. And it’s worth wandering it, perhaps guided precisely by this novel. Not far from Piazza Verga (where the courthouse is and where the protagonist often goes), for example, lies Villa Bellini, an ancient garden in which to stroll, relax, and let yourself be captivated by the magnificence of nature. From the courthouse, then, one can also reach Via Etnea: a long street facing Baroque buildings and churches, but also fine shops. Not a minor detail? From this street you can admire Etna: a truly evocative view.
Don’t miss Piazza Duomo as well: also in Baroque style, it is a true concentration of marvels, thanks to the Elephant Fountain, the Cathedral of Sant’Agata, incredible palaces such as the Palazzo degli Elefanti and the Palazzo del Seminario dei Chierici, and not to forget the Terme Achilliane.
Places that in the novel the author does not show us, but nevertheless the beauty of Sicily emerges page after page, in the glimpses she grants us and in the sensations she conveys, thanks to a vivid and vibrant writing.
San Ferdinando, the little (nonexistent) village of the protagonist
The protagonist’s town, namely San Ferdinando, does not exist and searching for it on maps is futile, but that does not deprive us of the fact that its uphill streets, the town’s main square, the bar where locals gather, its colors and contrasts are precisely what we can sense by visiting a similar place in Sicily. The beating heart of the story is this very place that does not exist and that undoubtedly appears as the perfect setting to feel the most authentic spirit of these places.
San Ferdinando isn’t far from Catania, so much so that both June and the other characters in the novel can move between the two places quickly.
But where should one go to feel its spirit? There are similar towns, such as Randazzo, about 40 minutes by car from Catania, a genuine medieval gem in which to breathe history and culture. Or Nicolosi, a starting point for exploring the southern side of Etna.
One thing is certain: between the pages of The Hermitage of the Mad by Agnese Messina one can glimpse a Sicily that strikes, that makes one fall in love at first sight, that offers a unique natural beauty, places that seem to have crystallized in time and where life teeters between the past and a modern, cutting-edge present. Just like June McFlynn. And so it is worth exploring Catania and its province, its towns, admiring the wonder that each corner, each view, the sunlit alleys, nature, and the city offer.
