How can we celebrate the history of a tobacconists’ family that resembles a fairy tale? With an article by Teresa Di Fresco, journalist with an ancient writing style, who in 2011 wrote a beautiful piece that was published by a Californian newspaper– L’italo-americano – on Carlo Riggio’s tobacco shop. Here it is.
I wonder if Donna Franca Jacona della Motta of the Barons of San Giuliano, the “Star of Italy” as nicknamed by Kaiser Guglielmo II and – not to be less – “the One” by Gabriele D’Annunzio her biggest admirer, ever noticed when passing by with her “Victoria”, her own four horse carriage, before reaching the Florio cottage a little further away – her home – an antique sign without anything fancy but just the sole word “tabaccheria” that invited tobacco enthusiasts to enter and try the marvellous aromatic tobacco that Cav. Giuseppe Riggio prepared for his loyal customers.
We like to think that Donna Franca “sniffed” tobacco – as was the fashion at that time – or, at most she would allow herself to be drawn with a long and elegant cigarette holder between her fingers like a Sicilian Greta Garbo, intriguing even more – if that were possible, all of the admirers of her noble and proper beauty and elegance. It is also easy to imagine her mundane and betrayal-prone husband, the entrepreneur Ignazio Florio jr. with a short cigarette holder or a cigar or even a cigarette between his lips, in an attempt to not be outdone by all those he knew, and he knew many, who among their various pleasures did not disdain to see their thoughts and dreams painted grey and projected onto an imaginary scenery made from swirls and voluptuous smoke rings.
An entire literature has always illustrated artists and novelists, in front of a typewriter, surrounded by smokey spirals, as if their ideas could not be created if not through a puff of nicotine. Leonardo Sciascia is an emblematic icon of the writer-smoker and the same can be said of Andrea Camilleri. In short, smoking is a habit that is almost inseparable from creation.
But there’s more. The tobacco shop in question has been located in 82 Via Dante in Palermo since 1870 (the royal seal found in an old photo and in-depth research both testify this) and it is certainly one of the oldest remnants of a country that has recently celebrated 150 years of unification, of which Antonino Matranga, the former owner of the shop, was undoubtedly a witness. Today, the history of the shop goes hand in hand with that of the Riggio family, which has now owned it for well over three generations. The current owner, Carlo, told us of the shop being passed down through generations, which have firmly maintained a sound, ancient principle: human relationships with customers. He recounted the story up until when his grandfather Giulio, the owner of a tobacco shop in Butera in the province of Caltanissetta, decided to move to Palermo and buy the shop owned by Antonino Matranga in Via Dante, a large, elegant and central street, that was later made part of the Firriato Villafranca path where the 1891-92 expo was held, of which the capital of Sicily was the protagonist.
It was the year 1918 and his grandfather, barely settled down, had to leave and go to war, the great war, the First World War, leaving the shop in the hands of his grandmother. Anyway…. After the war had finished and Giulio returned, the family grew and three children were born: Enrico, Giuseppe and a third who lives abroad. Giuseppe inherited the tobacco shop while Enrico focused on other things. The Second World War saw the brothers on the frontline; Enrico, an army officer, was taken prisoner in Africa and then in India, Giuseppe, an NCO air cadet, ended up in labour camps in Germany for four years. When the Second World War ended, the brothers and the family found themselves reunited, while Giulio and his wife had taken care of the business. The family grew even larger, Giuseppe got married and had two children: Cario, the current owner, dedicated his life to the tobacco shop while his brother followed a different path. Today, Cario is a father to four children, one of whom was named Giulio: the tradition must be respected and the grandfather remembered. There have already been three generations and there is hope for a fourth.
In having such antique roots, the family history is closely linked to that of the tobacco that was imported from America, after its discovery, into Europe in around 1518. Carlo V, the Emperor of Spain, planted the seeds that were donated and so began the cultivation. Over the centuries, the Church was at times in favour and other times against the cultivation of this plant, sometimes exalting it, others demonising it, threatening excommunication in cases of disobedience.
Medical properties were attributed to this plant and it was imported by Cardinal Prospero Santa Croce in 1565 and its initial use was that of “snuff”, “a pinch of snuff”, which everyone used, from nobles to commoners, men to women, even clergymen. It was in this period that the first tobacco shops were built and, according to witnesses of the time, they were greater in number than bakeries and taverns. As trade was a consistent generator of income, some restrictions regarding its cultivation were imposed. The Venetian Republic was the first to introduce fiscal restrictions, followed closely by Mantova, Lombardy, Naples and Palermo. Back then, Italy was not united and a state monopoly was unheard of. Even the church made a stand and after the conflicting theories of the different popes, in 1757 Benedict XIV abolished the tender of tobacco shops, deemed unsuitable to the pope government.
When Giulio Riggio became the lucky owner of the tobacco shop in Via Dante, not only could tobacco be sold in the store, but it was in fact mandatory to sell certain products, for example, state quinine, and also outside of Sicily, rock salt (in Sicily, where there was much rock salt production, no monopoly existed and thus it was not sold in tobacco shops). Ropes, spices, shaving products, aftershave and other strictly-male products were also sold, as men would never enter a perfume shop – only for women – in order to avoid gossip. They also sold – at least until the 70s – lead soldiers, a real fascination for children who imitated the acts of war heroes and for fathers who became collectors of armies that were not at all dangerous but that could justify any war under any flag.
Today, hard to find items remind us of our past naivety, the adventures we dreamt of, the exploration of distant lands by a Texas soldier, riding his horse, more or less 10cms tall, that took us to endless prairies marked in the furrows of our wildest imagination. And what can we say about the “little boss” of the neighbourhood, a colourful character, as Riggio described, that wore a hat to the store, ordered cigars and, while choosing, let a few of them fall into the folds of his umbrella that he carried on his arm, in both winter and summer – arousing the curiosity of the naïve shop assistant – and his grandfather tolerated this “little bad habit”… Back then, there were no streetlights and only dimly lit gas lamps gave out light. At dusk, a customer often appeared, tapping his money on the table and ready to exchange for a “Toscano”. When it came to taking the money, grandfather Giulio was not able to find it and he blamed the dark. Aware of the frequent reoccurrence of this event, one day a friend hid and waited for the “cunning customer”. He saw that when the tobacconist turned around to get the cigar, the customer took the money and hid it in his mouth. At that point the friend, with a small whack on the neck, made the coin fly out, revealing the fraudulent trick.
Today, the Riggio tobacco shop still maintains that “antique flavour”, dear to both its old and new owners, selling products of high artisan workmanship, favouring, among its items, those dedicated to smoking: cigarettes, cigars, pipes, cigarette holders and various accessories, not forgetting leather goods and high-quality stationery. The leitmotif of both yesterday and today’s history follows a fine line drawn by a romantic and timeless spiral of smoke.
