My friend Giorgio Modica of Modica, Sicily, passed away on January 24.

On his death notice, his family wrote Fu Angelo. Translation: He was an angel. 

In his youth, Giorgio immigrated to Toronto, Canada, where he lived for many years. He loved Canada, but he yearned to live out his later years in his beloved Sicily, which is exactly what he did. His excellent English skills and his love for food landed him work as a translator at some of the top cooking schools and wineries in Sicily. In this new Return-To-Sicily chapter of life, he met and made a life with Antonella. They had two lovely children, who are still quite young, seemingly too young to have lost such a wonderful father.

Together as a family, they ran an animal sanctuary. Giorgio loved to tell me the story of how Antonella started their animal sanctuary by saving Zeus, the sweetest Sicilian donkey on the planet. While at the market, the story goes, Antonella heard rumor that Zeus, whose owner had recently passed away, had been sold to a family who announced their plans to eat Zeus. Antonella immediately left the market and quickly withdrew a wad of cash from the bank, went over to the family’s house, and offered them a good sum of money in order to buy and save Zeus from the hatchet. Antonella brought Zeus home and explained everything to Giorgio. She wasn’t sure how he would react since she had paid a pretty price to save Zeus. That day, Giorgio told me, he fell more deeply in love with Antonella.

Here is a sweet short video of Giorgio and Zeus LINK

Giorgio had a great sense of humor, too. Here he is holding one of the newest sanctuary residents. He just had to text me this photo and asked me if I agreed that this feathered friend looks like Trump!

He was my buddy! He made me laugh and he always gave me great advice. He was full of wisdom. We texted each other often via WhatsApp. I liked to tease him by asking him if, by chance, he had tapeworms. He’d reply with howling laughter! I have never known anyone to eat so much food at every meal and stay slim. He loved food and he enjoyed every meal. He always exclaimed that he was so lucky to live in Modica, where some of the best food in all of Sicily can be enjoyed. And he had a sweet tooth! He especially loved gelato, cannoli, and chocolate-anything.

Once, on a retreat in Sicily, I had previously read about a famous gelato place (una gelateria famosa) in the town of Noto. I told Giorgio that I wanted to go there with my yoga group and asked if he would accompany us to get gelato there. He said yes, of course! The gelateria was not overly busy. My group of 16 filled it up. We all stood in line and made our orders. The family running the shop was not as friendly as one would expect in sunny Sicily. In fact, they were not friendly at all!  I went to pay for Giorgio’s and my gelato as Giorgio stood beside me. We both tried to make small talk with the signora at the register. Giorgio, known for his contagious smile, did not succeed in getting the signora to smile. Nothing. Niente. When we walked out of the gelateria, Giorgio pulled me aside and said, “Listen, Francesca! We will never go back to this place ever again! Never! Do you hear me? They are very rude people! Dimmi! Quanto costa un sorriso?” = “Tell me! How much does a smile cost?”

If you, my reader, have been on a yoga retreat to Sicily with me, chances are you have met my dear Giorgio.

Below, dinner and a concert at Giorgio and Antonella’s house. And there is Giorgio serving i dolci (cannoli and other desserts).

On my last retreat, during a visit to Giorgio’s home and farm in Modica, for each person in my yoga retreat group, Giorgio had prepared a surprise gift: a container of his home grown olive oil. Well, our bus had already left Modica about a half hour ago when Giorgio realized that he had forgotten to give us the gifts! He was texting me and calling the driver, asking us to turn around and come back to get our gifts. I somehow saw the many frantic messages and told the driver to turn around. The driver pulled to the side of the road and called Giorgio. I heard the driver say in a serious tone, “Yes, we will come back for the olive oil!”  I told the group, “We have to go back! Giorgio forgot to give us a gift he prepared for us!”  I’ll never forget the image as we approached the driveway leading to Giorgio’s house: Giorgio standing in his driveway with boxes and boxes of olive oil, holding two olive oil containers in his hand and waving them at us!

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I will miss the packages he sent me, packages he called “i sapori della Sicilia” (the flavors of Sicily),  packages filled with his organic olive oil, which he called “Liquid Gold”, organic pasta of every shape and form, all grown and processed on his organic farm. He grew a special ancient grain called Russello, which has a long grain kernel, rosy in color. The plant is characterized by strong roots well planted in shallow soil.  Russello is a type of ancient grain that has a  gluten index below 55%. Giorgio and Antonella produce 90% of the food they consume. He was so very proud of this fact and so proud of what they produced!

I will miss his laughter, his voice, his kindness, his generosity, his contagious smile, his jokes, his energy, his wit and wisdom, and the way he inspired me to want to live in Sicily. I will save every text I ever received from him and reread them as if in dialog with him again.