Did he have a notary: In Italy, as in many other European countries, notaries are lawyers employed by the state and are in charge of many of the legal procedures concerning civil status, including last will and testament.
Stella Lasorella: La sorella, in Italian, means ‘the sister’.
‘But there aren’t any lunatic asylums any more!’: In 1978, the passage of Law 180 (also known as the Franco Basaglia Law, after the famous psychiatrist-neurologist who inspired it) technically abolished lunatic asylums in Italy. Among other things, it eliminated ‘dangerousness’ as an acceptable reason for treatment. It did stipulate, however, that ‘obligatory mental health treatment’ (‘Trattamento Sanitario Obligatorio’, or TSO) must be applied to individuals whose ‘psychological disturbances are such as to require urgent therapy’, if such therapy is not voluntarily accepted by the persons in question. Care to the mentally ill would be provided by a variety of institutions, including outpatient clinics, community centres, and ‘residential’ and ‘semi-residential’ centres. Law 180 was slow in being applied. The first Berlusconi government moved in 1994 to close the remaining sanatoriums still open. But, as it turns out, the current system makes available to patients far more psychiatric services than before; the ‘residential centres’ are, in effect, psychiatric hospitals. The inflexibly coercive nature of the pre-1978 asylums has, however, been considerably diminished.
If the carabinieri intervened, the whole thing was sure to end in farce: In Italy the carabinieri, a national police force under the jurisdiction of the military, are commonly viewed as short on intelligence and are therefore often the butt of jokes. They are also often in competition with the regular local police forces, and Montalbano in particular usually prefers to steer clear of them.
They say that D’Annunzio used to keep specimens of pubic hair . . . : Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863—1938), a celebrated poet of diminutive stature and great bluster, was reputed to be sexually insatiable and given to strange erotic practices.
Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus . . . : This, and the quoted passage that follows, are from the Richmond Lattimore translation, University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Inspector Mazzancolla: Mazzancolla is a kind of Mediterranean prawn. Catarella later makes the same mistake as Montalbano, calling Mazzacolla Mazzancolla.
‘. . . also a middical dacter?’: In Italy, Montalbano’s title of commissario di pubblica sicurezza (‘Commissar of Public Safety’) requires a university degree, and any full university degree confers on its recipient the title of dottore, or ‘doctor’. Indeed, in the original versions of these stories, Montalbano’s colleagues often call him ‘dottore’.
‘. . . and without suspicion,’ . . . Dante: Montalbano is quoting from Dante’s Inferno (canto 5, L.129), ‘senza alcun sospetto’, in reference to the story of illicit love between Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, which earned the famous couple a place in the second circle of hell among the lustful.
. . . as false as the Modigliani heads that were found in Livorno: In 1984, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Italian modernist painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884—1920), some local artists got the idea to drum up a little excitement. As described in the 20 May 2014 issue of thelocal.it (http://www.thelocal.it/20140520/livorno-plans-to-show-fake-modigliani-heads), an English-language news webzine for Italy:
It was the summer of 1984, and an exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Modigliani’s birth in his hometown had begun on a lacklustre note.
So in an effort to drum up more enthusiasm, the organizer, Vera Durbé, decided to fund a search for the carved heads that Modigliani is said to have hurled into the Fosse Reale canal after receiving negative reviews.
A week into the search, three sculptures were found at the bottom of the canal, prompting Durbé to announce they were Modigliani originals, a declaration that attracted hundreds of visitors to the city.
But art historian Federico Zeri cast doubt on their authenticity, saying they were so ‘immature’ that Modigliani had been right to cast them aside.
The three students later confessed to producing one of them with a Black & Decker drill, while the other two were made by a local artist.
Notes by Stephen Sartarelli
Andrea Camilleri is one of Italy’s most famous contemporary writers. The Inspector Montalbano series has been translated into thirty-two languages and was adapted for Italian television, screened on BBC4. The Potter’s Field, the thirteenth book in the series, was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association’s International Dagger for the best crime novel translated into English. He lives in Rome.
Discover more at facebook.com/AndreaCamilleriAuthor
Stephen Sartarelli is an award-winning translator. He is also the author of three books of poetry, most recently The Open Vault. He lives in France.
Also by Andrea Camilleri
Inspector Montalbano mysteries
THE SHAPE OF WATER
THE TERRACOTTA DOG
THE SNACK THIEF
THE VOICE OF THE VIOLIN
EXCURSION TO TINDARI
THE SCENT OF THE NIGHT
ROUNDING THE MARK
THE PATIENCE OF THE SPIDER
THE PAPER MOON
AUGUST HEAT
THE WINGS OF THE SPHINX
THE TRACK OF SAND
THE POTTER’S FIELD
THE AGE OF DOUBT
THE DANCE OF THE SEAGULL
THE TREASURE HUNT
ANGELICA’S SMILE
GAME OF MIRRORS
BLADE OF LIGHT
A VOICE IN THE NIGHT
Short stories
MONTALBANO’S FIRST CASE AND OTHER STORIES
Other novels
HUNTING SEASON
THE BREWER OF PRESTON
First published 2017 by Penguin Books,
an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
First published in the UK 2017 by Mantle
This electronic edition published 2017 by Mantle
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-6600-6
Copyright © Sellerio Editore 2013
Translation copyright © Stephen Sartarelli 2017
Jacket illustration: Jeff Fisher
Author photograph: Gattoni / Leemage / Writer Pictures
Originally published in Italian 2013 as Un covo di vipere by Sellerio Editore, Palermo
The right of Andrea Camilleri to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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