"The Waldenses in the valleys and Sicily Palermo 
republish the book of Pastor Theodore Balma
Giorgio Tourn (Reform, February 22, 2011)
The publisher of La Zisa Palermo it must be a reprint of a volume of Theodore Balma, the people of the Bible, history and martyrdom of the Waldensians, published by Corbaccio in 1933, a remake of a previous brochure published by Sonzogno in 1929. The book is an interesting document of the Waldensian journalism during the Fascist era, after the Concordat. The plant is a traditional one, as the text of E. Comba at that time stops at 1848.
The author, Theodore Balma, was then pastor at Catania, where he remained until 1946. Italo Pons in the Introduction, gives a portrait of happy, also inspired the sympathy that comes from having managed the community Catania; versatile personality, born communicator, not by chance that his interest in theater and journalism, held a post in his own little world of Waldensian two decades with its initiatives, including editorial.
may therefore be a matter of interest to re-read these pages at a later date: it is much more, however, analyze this reissue, and the text and pages in Balma Pons, in fact it consists of a foreword by Antonio Di Grado and notes Concluding Maurizio Rizzi, short texts, but full of thought. Let's start with the latter, the publisher has entrusted the task of drafting a sixth chapter, which concludes the text of Balma, reaches the present day. It serves by providing essential data, the assessment of the Waldenses of Torre Pellice is perhaps a little excessive (citizenship honorary Mussolini gave the town of Torre Pellice), however, significant is the fact that our author wonders with participant reflection on today, and he expects the Waldensian Church "knows how to combine the future" City of God "and the future "City of Man", "know how to think" a new means of communication "where instead" has considerable cultural lag 'but know how to think "like the church of the third millennium by taking up issues of global nature," and that is to become "fully Italian '. One can only agree, but how to translate into operational terms this wish? Our thoughts turn to today's political parties, whose statements programmatic rarely fell in the concrete. Even
Grade says, if not spelling out the paradox of faith that evokes rightly pointing out that you do not transplant the values \u200b\u200bof purity, the gospel, in uncleanness of the places, that history, if not in sola fide. What is striking however is the look in the text which reads Catania, and what looms behind her: Sicily's Bonavia, but also Brancati and Sciascia, the sphinx with by those who come "from the clear skies of the Valleys '. And the key operation in Chat - reprint of Balma and lyrics that accompany it - is probably in the perception of a Sicilian valdismo perceived, intuition, dreaming? Its polarity radical than a Nordic valdismo is evident, and it is clear its strong identity and that is why it is fascinating to hypothesize a comparison. And read them in a dialectic, as we do not have in any other region of Italy.
is no accident that in February this Waldensian to print and reprint the history, there are questions about the identity that is in Torre Pellice and Palermo?
T. Balma, the people of the Bible. History and martyrdom of the Waldensians, a c. Italo Pons, Preface. Antonio Di Grado, known by Maurizio Rizza, La Zisa, Palermo, 2011, pp. 256, € 16, 00.
The memory of Graziella Campagna, but also that of his brother, the policeman Piero, and his extraordinary courage. It's a constant dialogue between the two brothers that a judicial inquiry into the book "With your eyes. History of Graziella Campagna killed by the Mafia" (published by "La Zisa"), written by journalist Rosario Brancato and presented to the Pickwick Papers. "Graziella continues to live through the eyes of Piero - Rosario Brancato says - a" love story "between the two brothers, born 14 December 1985 when, two days after the tragic killing of Graziella, they unearthed the body of his brother ". In his work, the author reconstructs the twenty-four long years of judicial search for truth, but also gives voice to the victims of this tragic story: a Graziella, Piero and all other components of a family torn by grief. "I did not make the report of an investigation - says Rosario Brancato - but tell the story of" normal "people, heroes of everyday life. The idea came to me the day of the title to the gym Saponara Graziella. I written to give voice to her, but also to his family. Because that night she was killed the whole family campaign. and was killed every day for twenty-five years. The message for future generations is not to ever turn the other way " . "Thanks to Rosa, in this book, in which he takes his professionalism and his passion, Graziella talks," said the journalist Rtp, Gisella Ciccio, moderator of the meeting which was also attended by the brother of Graziella Campagna, Pasquale, and sen. Gianpiero D'Alia, a member of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia re ¬. "In these pages, Rosaria has put all his feelings - says Pasquale Campaign, this together with his brother Paul - my mother and we are all grateful to those who were close to us. But this is a pain that time can not erase . My mother always says that he lives for the responsibility towards the family, but she's dead inside for years. We will never stop the kids of today to transmit the message of the importance of compliance and legality. " Finally, the intervention of D'Alia, "That is one of Graziella Campagna killings ugliest in the history of the Sicilian Mafia, who scored deeply the conscience of all who testified as Messina was never "dad," that is far from the phenomena of organized crime and outside the circuits of the mafia. "Then, the Senator Campaign focuses on the family, emphasizing the "great dignity and great balance with which he faced a tragedy that time can not erase, but, on the other hand, makes the loss even more unbearable." And, with an emphasis on the book Rosaria Brancato (dedicated to his sister Celeste), adds: "With great determination and deep sensitivity, the author has told this story creating an excellent job. It is a book that is read, which gives us things that we always need every day. "to intervene even the director of the Pickwick Papers, Salvo Trimarchi, and the Hon. John Ardizzone. During the debate, the journalist Gisela Ciccio, proposed the organization another meeting on the book at the next Night of Culture. 
