4 burglars of Boccadasse ... Genoa’s thieves: Boccadasse, where Livia resides, is a district of Genoa.
5 a tray full of ten-thousand-lire notes: In 1968, ten thousand lire was worth about sixteen U.S. dollars.
5 “lupara”: A sawed-off shotgun, traditionally the weapon of choice among mafiosi and bandits in Sicily. Modern times have witnessed the advent of more sophisticated weaponry.
11 Paolo Villaggio’s immortal Fantozzi: Ugo Fantozzi is an obsequious, tough-luck character created for television and films by comic actor Paolo Villagio (born 1932).
15 “Eight hundred thousand lire a month”: About four hundred U.S. dollars. At the time of the novel’s writing (1999), one dollar equaled approximately two thousand lire.
16 “Duetto”: A classic model of the Alfa Romeo Spider of the early 1970s, popularized by Dustin Hoffinan in the film The Graduate.
19 “Madunnuzza santa!”: Blessed little Madonna (Sicilian dialect).
33 Via Crucis: The path traveled by Christ on his way up to Mount Calvary, while carrying the cross.
45 “three million ... two million”: About fifteen hundred and a thousand dollars, respectively, at the time of the novel’s writing.
46 Quasimodo: Poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1959, was a native Sicilian.
59 everyone ... was repenting about something: Montalbano has his own ongoing polemic against the phenomenon of Mafia turncoats and other criminals who turn state’s witness (called pentiti, or “repenters”) and are thereafter coddled and protected by the government. See, in particular, A. Camilleri, The Snack Thief.
73 “sfincione”: Also called sfinciuni in dialect, this is a thick-crust sort of pizza or focaccia originally from the Palermo area. It was traditionally served during the Christmas season among the poor folk as a way of presenting bread in a festive manner, with a variety of toppings. Versions differ all over Sicily, but typical toppings include chopped onions, tomatoes, black olives, anchovies, eggplant, caciocavallo cheese.
83 “vù cumprà”: Term used for African street peddlers in Italy, in whose accent the question Vuoi comprare (“Do you want to buy?”) comes out as vù cumprà.
88 four to five billion lire: Two to two and a half million dollars.
109 “Having faith is always best” ... “If you don’t sleep, you still can rest”: Montalbano is simultaneously mocking religion and the comforting adage for insomniacs: Il letto è una gran cosalSe non si dorme s‘arriposa (Of all things the bed is best / If you can’t sleep you still can rest), quoted in A. Camilleri, Voice of the Violin.
116 couldn’t bring himself to call them “repenters,” much less state’s witnesses: See note to page 59.
119 medical-service cards: In order to use the public healthcare system in Italy, one must present a government-issued medical card.
119 “certificate of living existence”: Certificato di esistenza in vita, in Italian. This bureaucratic oddity was created, among other reasons, to prevent retirement pensions from being paid out to people who are dead.
123 “the ROS”: The Reperto Operativo Speciale, an elite unit of the carabinieri, the national police force.
128 “I’ve got a heart like a lion and another like a donkey”: This is the literal translation of a Sicilian expression that means, more or less, “I’m of two minds” or “I’m torn.” Montalbano here purposely uses a Sicilian idiom to confuse the commissioner, who he knows will not understand it.
132 It was as if they were at Pontida: On April 7, 1167, the Lombard League, a federation of North Italian communes in the province of Lombardy (Brescia, Bergamo, Cremona, Mantua, and later Milan), was founded at the Convent of Pontida to fight the hegemonic designs of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa across the region. The solemn Oath of Pontida, taken on this occasion, has been grotesquely re-created in our time by the right-wing separatist, anti-immigrant party of Umberto Bossi, originally also called the Lombard League, now renamed the Northern League, which re-enacts the oath annually.
134 “Pisello districk” ... Fava district: Pisello means pea and fava is fava bean, hence Catarella’s confusion.
138 goat-tying: My rendering of the Sicilian verb incaprettare (containing the word for goat, capra), which refers to a particularly cruel method of execution used by the Mafia. Lying facedown, the victim has a rope looped around his neck and then tied to his feet, which are raised behind his back, as in hog-tying. Fatigue eventually forces him to lower his feet, strangling him in the process.
146 “These words content me much”: Henry VI, Part II, act 3, scene 2.
183 “Beddra Matre santissima!”: Most holy beautiful Mother (Sicilian dialect).
186 “passbook with the post office”: In Italy one can conduct a variety of transactions with the postal service, including banking.
188-89 Vittorio Emanuele III ... Umberto I ... “Gentleman King”: Three kings of Italy. The “Gentleman King” (il re galantuomo) was Vittorio Emanuele II. All the Italian kings since the foundation of the modern monarchy have been of the House of Savoy.
189 “verba volant” and “scripta manent”: “The spoken word flies” and “the written word remains” (Latin).
190 “It’s Ciampi”: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, still the Italian president of the Republic, a largely ceremonial position. Executive power is invested in the office of the presidente del Consiglio, or prime minister.
192 “a hundred million”: About fifty thousand dollars.
212 Caponata: A zesty traditional southern-Italian dish, often served as an appetizer or side dish, made up of sautéed eggplant, tomato, green pepper, garlic, onion, celery, black olives, vinegar, olive oil, and anchovies. In this instance, Montalbano eats a large helping of caponata as his main course.
225 “she left her stable and hide”: In Italian, an insignificant inheritance is sometimes described idiomatically as una stalla e una salma, or “a stable and a corpse.” In Sicilian, however, the term salma is also an ancient and sometimes modern unit of surface measurement, equivalent to 1.76 hectares, or about four and a half acres. As a Sicilian, Montalbano seems to be unaware of the Italian expression, since in this conversation he momentarily takes the term salma (rendered as “hide”) literally; he is also unaware of the rather obscure Sicilian unit of measure. A hide was a unit of measurement in medieval England of varying size, starting around sixty acres. Translating salma as hide, while increasing the area some fifteen times, does, however, make it possible to reproduce the protagonist’s incomprehension in this situation, as it rather fortuitously and symmetrically preserves the original term’s double meaning of “corpse” and “land area.” What is inevitably lost is Camilleri’s rather sly literalization of an idiomatic metaphor.