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The Miracles of Santo Fico, D.L. Smith
Time Warner
Reviewed by Sheila Forbes (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)
This is a light-hearted frolic set in Santo Fico, a small Tuscan village set high on the cliffs overlooking the sea.
Several of the inhabitants are in need of miracles: Maria, whose husband disappeared without trace many years before; Marta, an embittered widow who has never forgiven Leo Pizzola for what he told her on the night before her wedding, and who is struggling to control her wayward teenage daughter; Father Elio, who believes that his empty church is God's punishment for a heinous sin committed in his youth. Most of all it is the dreary little village itself with its drought, its non-functioning fountain, its lack of visitors or anything to attract them, that needs help.
When Leo Pizzola returns after years away his only aim is to sell the neglected family farm and return to America as soon as possible. This proves more difficult than expected.
When a tourist bus arrives by accident in the village, Leo and his childhood friend, Topo, immediately see this as an opportunity to make money by relating the highly embroidered stories of the "miracle" and the "mystery" of Santo Fico. The first is the blackened stump of a fig tree that purportedly sustained St Francis during a visit and the other a fresco in the church, claimed to have been miraculously painted in one day, which also depicts the saint.
Their plans to repeat their success are frustrated when an earthquake seriously damages the church. However, it also gives Leo the chance to make off with the loosened pieces of the fresco, which he believes to have been painted by Giotto and thus worth a fortune. Unfortunately for him, he is seen by Marta, who furiously demands that he come up with a "miracle" to restore Father Elio's shattered faith. Leo and Topo then embark on a blundering series of attempts to perform convincing miracles.
While some of the humour is a little laboured, especially in the beginning, it is an entertaining story full of eccentric characters and with a satisfying touch of romance.