«This project would not have been possible without the incredible help of the Sicilians, the heart of these people and their welcome moves us». Through the words of underwater archaeologist Lisa Briggs, the award-winning American director, but of Sicilian origins, Martin Scorsese, takes this opportunity to thank the Sicilians and Sicily for the days he is spending on the island. Scorsese is filming a documentary on ancient shipwrecks, in collaboration with Briggs herself, who is a professor and researcher at Cranfield University in England. One of his stops was the island of Ustica, where together with the diving experts of the Superintendency of the Sea the director is scrutinizing the seabed and their “submerged treasure”. Then he will be in Italy again: on 7 and 8 October he will be in Turin for a masterclass and to receive the Star of the Mole
So, together with his crew, wearing a panama hat and white shirt, Scorsese stopped in Ustica to visit some of the sunken treasures that he is preparing to include in the documentary which, it is expected, could be released next May.
The director is very attracted to Sicily, above all due to his origins. The father, in fact, was originally from Polizzi Generosa, the mother from Ciminna, both towns in the Palermo hinterland. For him, returning to the island and working on projects in which she is the protagonist is a journey backwards “to discover one’s origins”, the director is keen to specify.
The docufilm, taken from Professor Briggs’ “Shipwreck of Sicily” project, does not yet have a name, but aims to “reveal something new to the public”, announce Briggs herself and the director. Thus the same underwater archaeologist, in recent days, immersed herself in the waters of Ustica for an inspection of the Punta Falconiera itinerary, where Roman anchors belonging to the Roman and even Byzantine era are still present and visible.
The American director’s new project will be co-produced by the Sicilian Region’s cultural heritage department, by Sikelia Productions. In addition to Ustica, the crew has already been to Taormina «where we were able to admire what we call the submerged Taormina, that is, the fascinating wreck of the columns, which is, in fact, as if it were a second underwater city», explain the archaeologist and director . A wreck that dates back to about two thousand years ago, when following the sinking of a Roman cargo ship, which was carrying white marble columns, coming from the nearby North African provinces. The columns remained there, on the seabed, where they still are, well guarded.
Scorsese’s crew also stopped in Marausa, in the Trapani area, where the Marausa 2 wreck was recently discovered, then they also visited the Salinas regional archaeological museum in Palermo, the Aidone Museum and the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina. Among the locations chosen by the director there are also the Tonnara di Favignana, the island of Mozia, Erice, Polizzi Generosa, the town of origin of the director’s grandparents, the archaeological park of Selinunte, the Caves of Cusa and Pantelleria.
