“I want to remember you as you were, to think that you still live on… and that, as in the old days, you listen to me and smile.”

I decided to name the agriturismo after my mother, Donna Cettina, for she is the person, together with my father, to whom the realization of this project is dedicated: that sweat which, over the years, has rhymed with the word “love.”

Cettina Briguglio, originally from Messina, remained here through her early years, before moving to Palermo to complete her studies and later join her father, Salvatore Briguglio, in the family business, the Cincillà company, known for the sale and artisanal production of fur and leather garments, with premises in both Palermo and Messina.

Then, in 1962, at only 22 years of age, following her father’s passing, she began managing the already flourishing family business together with her mother, Gaetana Avena, and her brothers Giuseppe and Gioacchino, and later with her beloved sisters-in-law, Gigliola and Margherita. In a short time, it became one of the finest commercial enterprises of those years, a distinguished establishment that marked an era of luxury, style, and elegance in both cities.

Her life, therefore, had no direct ties to these places, except through her love for my father and through my childhood memories.

When we used to take the old road to the countryside, we would pass by Due Fiumare, a place that had always fascinated my mother, as she found it both charming and strategically located: “closer to the sea and more convenient for the children,” as she would say.

In reality, however strange it may seem, she never lived there, nor did she ever spend even a single night there.

My father, Don Cesarino, was far too much a creature of habit to embrace change, and too deeply attached to San Giorgio to stay anywhere else.

And yet, together they decided to purchase the property “by chance”…

He made sure it became a house that was efficient in every respect: he cared for it down to the smallest detail, including its exterior embellishments, quite unusual for those times, with exotic plants sourced from various local nurseries, giving the property the character of a house that was decidedly more summery and “seaside” in spirit.

They planted palms, kapok trees, weeping willows, avocado trees, papyrus, aloe, giant thuja, magnolia ficus, jacarandas, red acacias, bougainvillea, strelitzias, and everything that was refined and rare… while at the same time preserving a small corner of the house devoted to citrus trees, aromatic plants, and the terraces above cultivated with olive and fruit trees, in keeping with the humbler taste of those who truly love the land.

Due Fiumare House was opened only almost ten years after its purchase.

The first to stay there, one after another, were our cousins, namely the children of my Aunt Sara, Seba first and then Cesare with his family.

Then, over the years, family friends stayed there for short visits, until in more recent years it became the summer retreat of my mother’s aunts and uncles.

Its restoration, which lasted about two years, involved the use of high-quality and valuable materials, while always preserving the original structure.

It also saw the “reuse” of many family objects and furnishings that were already in the house, reinterpreted in a modern key, creating a perfect harmony between old and new.

My mother was a truly special person, one of very few: the simple and genuine spirit that defined her never allowed her to lose sight of the spontaneity of life’s little things, and I remember her in my heart as a true Lady, both in her role as a business executive, in constant contact with high society, commerce, and international trade fairs, and as Donna Cettina, loved by all in these lands of Castania and respected by the local people who stood by her with affection in the making of so many things: from sun-dried tomato preserves, to tomato sauce, dried figs, and fruit preserves… until, in her later years, she stood beside my father as a gracious and attentive hostess, devoted to welcoming guests and to providing everything that might be comfortable and useful for them.

I will always remember her this way… with her smile, her nobility of spirit, and all the most beautiful things she passed on to me during the years of our life together.