She combines the management of her family’s inherited properties with her profession as a psychologist
Origins, Identity, and a Sicilian Legacy
Our new feature covers two topics: entrepreneurship and Sicilian nobility. This is a unique blend that is very much present in Sicily, a land where aristocratic palaces and estates abound. To take a closer look at what we are talking about, we turned to Giulia Lanza dei Principi di Scalea, a young woman who combines the management of her family’s inherited properties with her profession as a psychotherapist.
When I arrive at her estate—in Camitrici, near Enna and Caltanissetta—one of the first things we talk about is her origins. A burden, but also a challenge that Giulia has taken on with great enthusiasm. Origins are boring for many, but to a small extent necessary for understanding. This is why Giulia shows us, somewhat reluctantly, a long, narrow parchment listing all the members of her family, the Lanza (or Lancia) family. We spread the very long document out on the ground, not without risking damaging it several times in order to take a few photos. “Chi fur li maggior tui?” (Who were your ancestors?) reads the beginning of the endless document.
“Who were your ancestors?” A question that was asked of Dante during his journey through Hell, recounted in the Divine Comedy. Well, understanding it fully is no easy task for Giulia herself. Not least because the document outlines the family’s development “from 934 to the present day (1907)”… not exactly a walk in the park.
A Family History Echoing The Leopard
The most recent developments, which laid the foundations for Giulia to become the owner of the Camitrici estate today, are reminiscent of the marriage between Angelica and Tancredi, recounted in Giuseppe Lanza Tomasi di Lampedusa’s famous novel, The Leopard. Set at the turn of the 19th century, following the unification of Italy in 1861, the story tells of the arranged marriage between a commoner and an aristocrat. “If we want everything to remain as it is, everything must change,” reads the famous phrase that has become an annoying cliché, which the enterprising Tancredi addresses to his aristocratic and traditionalist uncle in an attempt to convince him of the need to go along with events and turn them to his advantage. Among these events is his marriage to the daughter of the clumsy Calogero Sedarà who, with awkward manners but precise methods, tries to certify his rise into high society.
The union between Angelica and Tancredi was the literary archetype of what was common practice at the time. A similar story dates back to the second half of the 19th century, when Camitrici was owned by a farmer who had made his fortune. In Giulia’s case, the family of non-aristocratic origin was that of Annita Drogo, whom her farmer father gave in marriage to Niccolò Lanza di Scalea. The marriage, which was troubled, did not produce any heirs, which is why Annita left her estates to her nephews. Among them was Giuseppe Lanza dei Principi di Scalea, Giulia’s father.
Land, Work, and the Weight of Social Status Today
After continuing, without effort, to understand the family’s story, we arrive at the reason why Giulia opens the door of her beautiful home in Camitrici, in the center of the Lanza di Scalea farm. We visit it far and wide. The main production is that of about 750 olive trees, which give life to an extraordinary extra virgin olive oil, available for purchase both in Italy and overseas (giulialanzadiscalea1@gmail.com). Pomegranates, wheat, garlic, and onions are also grown. More recent, and still ongoing, is the attempt to cultivate pistachios.
Today, Giulia occupies a particular social position, that of someone who sees her life burdened by a mixture of inscrutability and practicality. What is inscrutable is her social “status”, which is no longer what it once was but is still present. What does it mean today to belong to a noble family in Sicily? On a social level, very little or nothing. Legal protection for the nobility was abolished in 1948 with the adoption of the Republican Constitution. “If I call a restaurant, they’ll probably give me a better table,” says my friend Giulia, who has also been the target of hatred and envy from fellow citizens, which sometimes pops up like mushrooms on social media. Giulia is well aware of her privileges and does not hide behind excuses or justifications that have more to do with religion than reality. “I don’t have to climb the social ladder or anything else, because chance would have it that I was born into this situation.” Attributing the family you are born into to chance seems like democratic idea to me: being aware of your privilege, means treating it differently, not judging negatively those who, in the absence of similar factors, have to work harder to make their own way.
A Modern Heir Balancing Legacy and Reality
Giulia, now in her thirties, is an example of delicacy and sobriety, shunning the typical pompous behavior of some of her “colleagues,” who are intent on dragging along, with precise results, the practices of their ancestors. Giulia, in accepting this strange legacy conferred on her by history, has managed to skillfully combine thoughtfulness and intelligence in the difficult choices she has made. If, as we said, social status is not very concrete today, real estate is very concrete indeed. She is now the owner of the beautiful Villa Scalea in Palermo—that also welcomes paying visitors—and the Contrada Camitrici estate. The latter’s land, by the way, is cultivated entirely organically. These are splendid places, to say the least, which Giulia manages with her mother Benedetta. Two women in the presence of eight hard-working employees, refreshed during their olive harvesting process with pizza and, sometimes, a few beers.
Our Giulia is also one of the very few heirs of the Florio family—due to another branch of the complex family tree, which is why she is called upon to attend or cut the ribbons at certain inaugurations. The latter is much less concrete. To quote the phrase from The Leopard: everything has changed for Giulia compared to her ancestors. But something has remained the same.