The snow trade between Scilla and Messina

The history of the snow trade between Scilla and Messina represents one of the most singular and fascinating episodes in the economic relations between the two cities between the medieval and modern ages, a phenomenon that combines the natural environment, commercial organization and food culture and which, over the centuries, indirectly contributed to the birth of the Sicilian granita.
Indeed, several documentary sources allow us to reconstruct precisely the functioning of this singular trade, as demonstrated by the *partitum venditionis nivis*, drawn up on 18 May 1595 by the notary M. A. Oliva in the presence of the Magnificent Adamo Coppola, treasurer of Princess Maria Ruffo of Calabria of Scilla.
In this deed, the sale of the snow from the Aspromonte mountains, belonging to the fiefdom of Scilla, was established to the Messinese merchants Mariano De Potenza, Giuseppe Morabito and Simone Constabile, providing that the supply would take place every year from May until the end of October, that is, throughout the warm season, when the demand for refreshment and cool water was greatest.
The document thus provides the picture of a small but well-organized commercial activity, inserted within the broader economic system of the Strait of Messina, at a time when the Sicilian city still represented one of the principal ports of the Mediterranean: a centre rich in trade, inhabited by an influential patriciate, wealthy merchants, prosperous bankers and numerous craftsmen, capable of continuously attracting goods from the Calabrian coasts.
In this context, snow certainly did not constitute one of the principal items of commerce; nevertheless, its presence testifies to the existence of a dense network of daily exchanges between the two cities of the Strait, so intense as to suggest almost a form of economic conurbation between Scilla and Messina: not by chance, one of the main squares of the Sicilian city, located near Porta Reale and overlooking the coastal route facing precisely toward the “Petto della Nunziata”, Torre Faro and therefore Scilla, had long been named after snow and was known as the “Gilatore” square, a place that probably functioned as a general market or distribution centre for this precious product.
Whether snowfall on the Peloritani mountains was abundant or scarce, the snow of those mountains was not sufficient to satisfy urban demand; thus snow continued to enter Messina through Porta Reale coming from the mountains of the fiefdom of Scilla.
This circumstance contributed to the birth and development of a true organized snow trade, to the point of inducing the Messinese *Universitas* to draw up specific regulatory chapters to govern its sale and supply, according to a precise legal ritual of Italian mercantile tradition. What is striking, in fact, is not so much the consumption of snow itself, a very ancient practice in Mediterranean countries, but rather its full commercial “canonization” according to the methods of the fair and the market.
A prolonged drought that affected Messina and eastern Sicily during the second half of the sixteenth century also contributed to strengthening demand: between spring and autumn rainfall was almost absent and water was scarce, thus creating favourable conditions for the development of this trade.In this context, the sale of snow in the three principal squares of Messina - carried out throughout the day and often until late evening,
for approximately six months each year - not only demonstrates the vitality of this trade, but also confirms the opulence of the city during the sixteenth century and offers valuable insights into the sociology of consumption: since the product was highly perishable and certainly not inexpensive, it was probably intended mainly for the nobility and the urban bourgeoisie.This trade was supplied by the castellan and treasurer of Scilla, with a turnover of approximately two thousand ducats for “all the snow held in the mountains”, a sign of a well-organized economic system capable of systematically exploiting the natural resources of the territory.Since the Middle Ages, in fact, on the mountains belonging to the fiefdom of Scilla there existed the professional figure of the *nivaroli*, men who during the winter collected the snow that fell on the Aspromonte highlands and preserved it throughout the year in the so-called *neviere*: large natural or artificial cavities, dug beneath dense pine forests and protected with branches and foliage to defend it from the summer heat.The snow, collected during the coldest months and compressed with sticks until transformed into compact ice, was piled into these pits and covered with straw and ferns; during the summer it was then extracted, packed into bales or loaded into jute sacks and transported downhill, by mules or carts, to the beach of Scilla.
Here the second phase of the journey began: feluccas loaded with dripping sacks departed from Scilla and crossed the Strait, heading toward Torre Faro, the “Nunziata” or the port of Messina; on the mainland, meanwhile, caravans of *vaticali* climbed the mountain paths toward Aspromonte to replenish supplies from the snow pits; a watchman guarded the *neviere* from May to October, sleeping in makeshift shelters of branches.
In the city, the product was then sold in the shops of the contractors or along specific streets dedicated to the snow trade, where citizens could purchase the precious refrigerant.
Snow was used not only for food consumption, but also for food preservation and medical purposes, thus becoming an indispensable resource in an era lacking artificial refrigeration.
Numerous sources further demonstrate how this trade was controlled by feudal elites.
From documentary evidence originating from the Camera della Sommaria of Naples, we learn, in fact, that «for the settlement of the *relevio* presented by Princess Giovanna Ruffo of Calabria of Scilla upon the death of her mother, it appears that, from 1626 to 1647, the noblewoman had sold the snow of her fiefdom of Scilla to the city of Messina». The city obtained its supply through the local Senate, among whose ranks Princess Ruffo had as her trusted representative a relative, Francesco Cirino.
After purchasing the snow from the princess, the Messinese Senate customarily auctioned the concession for retail sale, with a starting bid of 1,000 *once* annually and according to specific conditions established in the relevant regulations: the price of snow, fixed at five *grana* per *rotolo* in the contract in force from 1 January 1639, was imposed upon the tenant, who could not alter it for any reason.
To protect against possible fraud or reductions in the agreed weight, it was further established that the *catapani*, officials responsible for the control of weights and measures, could carry out inspections within a radius of 25 paces from the shop, but no farther, in protection of the concessionaire himself, since, as expressly stated in the regulations, «it was snow which melts from one moment to the next».
This continuous journey of snow, from the forests of Aspromonte to the squares of the great Sicilian city, represented for centuries a stable component of the economy of the Strait and remained active until the advent of artificial refrigeration in the twentieth century. Until the 1950s, in fact, Aspromonte snow - and particularly that originating from the fiefdom of Scilla, considered Messina’s principal reservoir - constituted an important source of employment and supported the production of sorbets and ice creams, highly appreciated between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
From this ancient tradition arose one of the most celebrated specialties of Sicilian gastronomic culture: granita. At its origins lies the spread of an iced beverage flavoured with fruit juices or rose water, prepared with snow collected from the mountains. During the summer, the ice was grated and flavoured with honey or syrups of lemon, mulberries, almonds or flowers, giving rise to a simple preparation called *rattata*, that is “grated”, widespread until the early twentieth century and similar to the modern Roman *grattachecca*. During the sixteenth century, however, the technique underwent an important evolution, when it was discovered that snow mixed with sea salt could be used no longer as an ingredient, but as a refrigerant. Thus was born the *pozzetto*: a wooden tub containing a metal bucket which, thanks to the rotation of a crank, made it possible to churn a mixture of water, sugar and fruit, obtaining a finer and creamier consistency, while the mixture of snow and salt in the surrounding chamber removed heat from the compound, preventing the formation of large ice crystals. This innovation gave rise to granita in a form much closer to that known today, characterized by a soft consistency. Over the centuries, the recipe was further refined, and granita eventually replaced the older *rattata*, becoming one of the gastronomic symbols of the city of Messina and eastern Sicily.
Only in the twentieth century, with the introduction of the ice cream maker and refrigeration technology, was natural snow definitively replaced by water and artificial ice, yet the artisanal tradition remained alive, so much so that Messina granita still represents a daily ritual today. Behind this simple ritual therefore survives the memory of an ancient economic and commercial system that united sea and mountain, the cities of Scilla and Messina, in an unceasing journey of snow from the mountain forests through the Scilla feluccas to the squares of the great Sicilian city, transforming an apparently ephemeral natural resource into commerce, culture and identity.

Giuseppe Ribuffo