The Island Italians Keep to Themselves | Procida, Bay of Naples

I'm Maritimo, retired. I offer my services to fishermen. In fact, my family is all made up of fishermen, my grandmother, my father and me. So, basically, now you're helping, I mean, you're fixing other people's nets? Yes. And how many do you fix today? All of these. It's crazy how it starts. And when this moment comes, what do you do? This can't be fixed. Everything can be fixed. You put it there, you put it there, it comes into the system. And how is it to live in Procida? To be one of the few inhabitants all year round? Well, you have to be born in Procida. If you're not born there, you can't live in Procida. I, as a former sailor, have traveled the world. All I miss is Australia. So you can imagine the diversity of the people, of the neighbourhoods, how they can change. But then in the end, even if you have traveled the whole world, you are here now. Yes, yes, yes. And what is the feeling that gives you Procida? Tranquility. There is nothing else than tranquility. The most beautiful, the most tranquil, the most sincere thing is tranquility. You come here, you sleep with the door open, without any problems, and instead from the other side, I don't know, from you, how is it? Do you understand? This is the situation. So, one is calm, calm, because in fact one does one's job, even if it helps others. Makes you feel more gratified. In the morning, I don't know where I live, in Rome, in Perugia, in Valore. If you don't stay with people, you're alone, it's bad. If you don't help others, if you don't help someone, I don't know, what kind of day is it? What do you live to do? My name is Graziano Trapanese, I live here in Procita and I'm proud to be from Procita. 100-100. I've been a fisherman for 13 years. When were you 13 years old? Now I'm 57. Do you see how old I am? Let's not do the math. There are many, there are many. But has the fisherman's job changed? Or do you always do the same thing? No, well, technology has advanced, you can see, 100-100. Unfortunately, our parents left us. Your father was a fisherman? Yes, my grandfather, 99 years old, was always a fisherman. Always in Procida? Always in Procida. We are a family of fishermen, all of us. Down here, we are all fishermen. Because this port... This is a port for fishermen. This area, La Corricella, is a marine village. Maybe it's because of the wind. But once, now the boys don't want to do it anymore, they don't want to do it anymore. In fact, here there were a lot of fishing boats, there were 17, 18 fishing boats. Two big fishing boats remained, a few small boats like this. And then who will do this job? No, but it's going to end. And then? Then all foreign fish. We are destined to eat foreign fish, local fish and little. Then you say, why are you doing it? We do it because now we are inside, it's been so many years. Then you go with the boat, three or four people, you are calm in the middle of the sea on a day like this, you are relaxed. What is the thing you like the most when you do this job here? It's nice when you see all the fish in the net, it's nice. Because you're happy. It's normal, when the net is empty, the heart cries. I'm in Procida and I'm eating spaghetti, swordfish, tomato, eggplant and olives at the restaurant La Lampara, in this view. My name is Sebastiano, Sebastiano Pustrera, and I have been living here in the island of Procida for a long time. Actually, I was born somewhere else, but my mother is from Procida, so when I was very young, when I was one year old, I was here on this island. And it doesn't take long to fall in love with this island, and I live it with all my heart. The island of Procida... You understand, you can understand, starting from its maritime tradition. It is an island that has not only the sea around, but also the sea inside. That is, everything of these islands, the palaces, the places, the people, flows, instead of the blood in our veins, flows the sea water. Thank you. How is it to live on an island? Well, basically it's a nice island, a nice quiet life. I have to say that when I was young I didn't really like to stay on the island, because the island has narrow borders, a young man wants to escape, so much so that for more than ten years I lived in the nearby city of Naples, I also had other experiences. But now, I've been here for a few years and I like to stay here and I also like to dedicate myself to the island itself. Have you heard the call of this place? Yes. And that is now the thing that you like the most, what does Procito convey to you? Well, I'm a bit of a lover of its history, of its traditions and it seems incredible, but every day you discover that a stone, for example, we saw One of the palaces held as a portal a stone that was evidently a Roman capitello, Doric. So every little detail of this island conveys something to you. And then it conveys the fact that the inhabitants are all kind, courteous, we all know each other and then above all they are particularly affable. It's not true, I can testify this too. I know. Today we make these lemons, a lemon salad, this dish, because, as I said before, lemons have a whole history, a significant history of agriculture, but also of the sea, of navigation, etc. Lemon salad is a simple dish, but the important thing is that lemons are not to be squeezed, but to be eaten, basically. These are organic lemons, with a completely edible peel. Inside, they are very different from the ones we find, because they have a very small part that can be squeezed, and a lot of peel. Now let's cut one so we can see. In some recipes you use fresh garlic, in others you use onion. I like to use both of them. We have fresh garlic here and fresh onion. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that. These are the names of the dish. Water lemon. Water is used to add a little lime. To soften it. To soften it and to temper the flavor. Also to make the sauce. I'm starting to speak. Well, from an aesthetic point of view, it's wonderful. So we've got some nice bucatini with the coniglio, a coniglio alla procidana, made with garlic instead of onion, which is the typical recipe. And now we're going to eat them. We've fried them with some pecorino. You'd always live here? No, no, no, no, it doesn't really exist here. In our life, we live in the countryside. Who was born here? In the morning, we have a couple of canoes here. At five in the morning, I had to take a nice walk in the fresh air. The fishermen, when they got tired, they came down here to catch fish, and I had to go home. Now this is my life. I cut down the trees, and I don't want to cut down anything. It was a broken shop, and where there's this, there's that. And I was here when I was little. There was no bicycle. Now there's a bicycle, like when I was born. Well, this is like a bicycle. And a boy made it for me here, who's dead, because I was crying, I wanted a bicycle. Who gave me a bicycle? I didn't have money. My father was dead. Seven children, how could they give me a bicycle? I went down here with 50 lire, I bought it. Two packets of salad and a small Nutella. We all got together and made a marinade. And these were your afternoons? These were our afternoons. Then, at Christmas, we used to play hide and seek with the boys. They didn't know where we were going. We went to a house. My aunt had an old house. They were singing a few songs, it was a young party. Well, that's how the parties were. Then they would come and the guys would get out of the way. The guys always got out of the way. Yes, but they didn't run away from the guys. They all called each other Nico, another Domene, everyone had their own name. But they were always with us. Then we were friends. Enzo. Luisa, the little one, Luisa Gran, Patricia and me, we were five young girls. Then we were in the highlands, with the other sisters, Antonietta, Grazia, we knew each other. Now you see each other. We always say hello to each other and we love each other. But with some, yes, with some, no. I've always been in love with a girl called Luisa. Her name is Luisa, but I love her because she's my favourite friend. She's always been my favourite friend. We used to play at home, you know? The house was our home. Then we used to play on the rocks. The rocks were our home. This was our life. This was our life, which we don't have now. You've always lived in Prociso? Yes, always. Born and raised in Bresciaco. Now we're at my mother's house. We had seven children. There were three males and four females. One male died, unfortunately. My brother Antonio helped him. He died of the disease. He said, come here, I'll give you a break. He said, come here, I'll give you a break. This is my brother and these are the little ones. He's a relative of my sister. There was Ciccio. He was unique. How old did you meet him? I was 20 years old. He was even younger. I was 63 and he was 65 when he died. Okay, but you didn't have many years of difference. No, four or five years of difference. But I wanted him. I would run away from him. I would go and clean after lunch with my wife. I used to make dishes to help him. To stay with him? Yes, to stay with him, but also to help my mother-in-law. Because my mother-in-law needed it. But you weren't together yet, were you? Yes, we were together. He has always made me happy. Pasqua, Natale, Compleante, Sant'Estefano, always, Anniversario, I told him everything, everything about him. Did you tell him everything? Everything! But you know what he said to me? In the morning, on Valentine's Day, he said to me, okay, open the door, let's have a cup of coffee, I'll open it, I'll give you a package. No! The first Pasqua that I celebrated, the first Pasqua, the new one of Pasqua. He made us put a temple ring, and then I gave this ring to the Madonna, and then I did everything. Apart from the gifts, he was affectionate? My children are like that. It was Doc, basically. He was a Doc husband. Doc, Doc, Doc. What shall I do now? This is the pan of the Madonna dell'Arco. This is San Francesco Rastretto Benedetto. Do you keep it here? And this doesn't stink, do you see if it stinks? No. It's a powerful life. We were here in the middle of the school, we used to play and then we would go to work, you know? Yes, because it's like how we are now, we sit, we talk and then we go to work. Yes, you know? Then we would joke, we would say, bam, and then we would go to work. You make a circle in your hands, then you make a knot. Yes, here it is. For me it's easy, because I've been doing it for so many years. I was ten years old, I was even sixty-three. Now I'm doing it right.