The history of the snow trade between Scilla and Messina represents one of the most singular and fascinating\nepisodes in the economic relations between the two cities between the medieval and modern ages, a phenomenon\nthat combines the natural environment, commercial organization and food culture and which, over the\ncenturies, indirectly contributed to the birth of the Sicilian granita.
\nIndeed, several documentary sources allow us to reconstruct precisely the functioning of this singular trade,\nas demonstrated by the *partitum venditionis nivis*, drawn up on 18 May 1595 by the notary M. A. Oliva in the\npresence of the Magnificent Adamo Coppola, treasurer of Princess Maria Ruffo of Calabria of Scilla.
\nIn this deed, the sale of the snow from the Aspromonte mountains, belonging to the fiefdom of Scilla, was\nestablished to the Messinese merchants Mariano De Potenza, Giuseppe Morabito and Simone Constabile, providing\nthat the supply would take place every year from May until the end of October, that is, throughout the\nwarm season, when the demand for refreshment and cool water was greatest.
\nThe document thus provides the picture of a small but well-organized commercial activity, inserted within the\nbroader economic system of the Strait of Messina, at a time when the Sicilian city still represented one of the\nprincipal ports of the Mediterranean: a centre rich in trade, inhabited by an influential patriciate, wealthy\nmerchants, prosperous bankers and numerous craftsmen, capable of continuously attracting goods from the\nCalabrian coasts.
\nIn this context, snow certainly did not constitute one of the principal items of commerce; nevertheless, its presence\ntestifies to the existence of a dense network of daily exchanges between the two cities of the Strait, so\nintense as to suggest almost a form of economic conurbation between Scilla and Messina: not by chance, one of\nthe main squares of the Sicilian city, located near Porta Reale and overlooking the coastal route facing precisely\ntoward the \u201cPetto della Nunziata\u201d, Torre Faro and therefore Scilla, had long been named after snow and was\nknown as the \u201cGilatore\u201d square, a place that probably functioned as a general market or distribution centre\nfor this precious product.
\nWhether snowfall on the Peloritani mountains was abundant or scarce, the snow of those mountains was not\nsufficient to satisfy urban demand; thus snow continued to enter Messina through Porta Reale coming from the\nmountains of the fiefdom of Scilla.
\nThis circumstance contributed to the birth and development of a true organized snow trade, to the point of\ninducing the Messinese *Universitas* to draw up specific regulatory chapters to govern its sale and supply,\naccording to a precise legal ritual of Italian mercantile tradition. What is striking, in fact, is not so much the\nconsumption of snow itself, a very ancient practice in Mediterranean countries, but rather its full commercial\n\u201ccanonization\u201d according to the methods of the fair and the market.
\nA prolonged drought that affected Messina and eastern Sicily during the second half of the sixteenth century\nalso contributed to strengthening demand: between spring and autumn rainfall was almost absent and water\nwas scarce, thus creating favourable conditions for the development of this trade.In this context, the sale of\nsnow in the three principal squares of Messina - carried out throughout the day and often until late evening,
\nfor approximately six months each year - not only demonstrates the vitality of this trade, but also confirms the\nopulence of the city during the sixteenth century and offers valuable insights into the sociology of consumption:\nsince the product was highly perishable and certainly not inexpensive, it was probably intended mainly for\nthe nobility and the urban bourgeoisie.This trade was supplied by the castellan and treasurer of Scilla, with a\nturnover of approximately two thousand ducats for \u201call the snow held in the mountains\u201d, a sign of a well-organized\neconomic system capable of systematically exploiting the natural resources of the territory.Since the\nMiddle Ages, in fact, on the mountains belonging to the fiefdom of Scilla there existed the professional figure\nof the *nivaroli*, men who during the winter collected the snow that fell on the Aspromonte highlands and preserved\nit throughout the year in the so-called *neviere*: large natural or artificial cavities, dug beneath dense\npine forests and protected with branches and foliage to defend it from the summer heat.The snow, collected\nduring the coldest months and compressed with sticks until transformed into compact ice, was piled into these\npits and covered with straw and ferns; during the summer it was then extracted, packed into bales or loaded\ninto jute sacks and transported downhill, by mules or carts, to the beach of Scilla.
\nHere the second phase of the journey began: feluccas loaded with dripping sacks departed from Scilla and\ncrossed the Strait, heading toward Torre Faro, the \u201cNunziata\u201d or the port of Messina; on the mainland, meanwhile,\ncaravans of *vaticali* climbed the mountain paths toward Aspromonte to replenish supplies from the\nsnow pits; a watchman guarded the *neviere* from May to October, sleeping in makeshift shelters of branches.
\nIn the city, the product was then sold in the shops of the contractors or along specific streets dedicated to the\nsnow trade, where citizens could purchase the precious refrigerant.
\nSnow was used not only for food consumption, but also for food preservation and medical purposes, thus becoming\nan indispensable resource in an era lacking artificial refrigeration.
\nNumerous sources further demonstrate how this trade was controlled by feudal elites.
\nFrom documentary evidence originating from the Camera della Sommaria of Naples, we learn, in fact, that \u00abfor\nthe settlement of the *relevio* presented by Princess Giovanna Ruffo of Calabria of Scilla upon the death of her\nmother, it appears that, from 1626 to 1647, the noblewoman had sold the snow of her fiefdom of Scilla to the\ncity of Messina\u00bb. The city obtained its supply through the local Senate, among whose ranks Princess Ruffo had\nas her trusted representative a relative, Francesco Cirino.
\nAfter purchasing the snow from the princess, the Messinese Senate customarily auctioned the concession for\nretail sale, with a starting bid of 1,000 *once* annually and according to specific conditions established in the\nrelevant regulations: the price of snow, fixed at five *grana* per *rotolo* in the contract in force from 1 January\n1639, was imposed upon the tenant, who could not alter it for any reason.
\nTo protect against possible fraud or reductions in the agreed weight, it was further established that the *catapani*,\nofficials responsible for the control of weights and measures, could carry out inspections within a radius\nof 25 paces from the shop, but no farther, in protection of the concessionaire himself, since, as expressly stated\nin the regulations, \u00abit was snow which melts from one moment to the next\u00bb.
\nThis continuous journey of snow, from the forests of Aspromonte to the squares of the great Sicilian city, represented\nfor centuries a stable component of the economy of the Strait and remained active until the advent\nof artificial refrigeration in the twentieth century. Until the 1950s, in fact, Aspromonte snow - and particularly\nthat originating from the fiefdom of Scilla, considered Messina\u2019s principal reservoir - constituted an important\nsource of employment and supported the production of sorbets and ice creams, highly appreciated between\nthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
\nFrom this ancient tradition arose one of the most celebrated specialties of Sicilian gastronomic culture: granita.\nAt its origins lies the spread of an iced beverage flavoured with fruit juices or rose water, prepared with\nsnow collected from the mountains. During the summer, the ice was grated and flavoured with honey or syrups\nof lemon, mulberries, almonds or flowers, giving rise to a simple preparation called *rattata*, that is \u201cgrated\u201d,\nwidespread until the early twentieth century and similar to the modern Roman *grattachecca*.\nDuring the sixteenth century, however, the technique underwent an important evolution, when it was discovered\nthat snow mixed with sea salt could be used no longer as an ingredient, but as a refrigerant.\nThus was born the *pozzetto*: a wooden tub containing a metal bucket which, thanks to the rotation of a crank,\nmade it possible to churn a mixture of water, sugar and fruit, obtaining a finer and creamier consistency, while\nthe mixture of snow and salt in the surrounding chamber removed heat from the compound, preventing the\nformation of large ice crystals. This innovation gave rise to granita in a form much closer to that known today,\ncharacterized by a soft consistency. Over the centuries, the recipe was further refined, and granita eventually\nreplaced the older *rattata*, becoming one of the gastronomic symbols of the city of Messina and eastern Sicily.
\nOnly in the twentieth century, with the introduction of the ice cream maker and refrigeration technology,\nwas natural snow definitively replaced by water and artificial ice, yet the artisanal tradition remained alive,\nso much so that Messina granita still represents a daily ritual today. Behind this simple ritual therefore survives\nthe memory of an ancient economic and commercial system that united sea and mountain, the cities of\nScilla and Messina, in an unceasing journey of snow from the mountain forests through the Scilla feluccas to\nthe squares of the great Sicilian city, transforming an apparently ephemeral natural resource into commerce,\nculture and identity.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Giuseppe Ribuffo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>