by Carlotta Lombardo
The 73-year-old artist is the first victim of West Nile in Sicily. He had been hospitalized in August due to respiratory failure. On his Facebook page: A mosquito knocked me out, but I won’t leave you
My corpse, ashes. The same ashes I happily sprinkled on my head and many other people, but my spirit lives on. Whenever one of my paintings snatches a tear, a smile, a bitter laugh from you, I will be with you. The artist from Marsala, Mom Calascibetta, 73, did not make it and was hospitalized at the Sant’Antonio Abate Hospital in Trapani in mid-August after contracting the West Nile mosquito virus. Although the doctors immediately suspected that it was Nile fever, the analyzes confirmed it. The artist died last night, the first victim in Sicily of the virus, which was first isolated in Uganda’s West Nile district and spread to Africa, western Asia, Europe, Australia and America. A death that nullified the many projects that Calascibetta still had ahead of him and that his wife Enza and son Filippo report on the artist’s Facebook page, who attribute the news to Calascibetta as his final farewell. I have no intention of leaving you. I still have so much to do: two finished exhibitions, a catalogue, a monograph… Of course I won’t be able to be there physically, but in spirit, I promise, they will be there. This isn’t goodbye, just goodbye. Life is beautiful and artists never die.
In the message, the artist traces the stations of the two serious months of illness: It may seem ridiculous to you, but in August a mosquito knocked me unconscious. At first I didn’t connect my complaints with the mosquito bite. I thought it was covid, maybe from a new variant that was not detected by the swabs, but nothing: even taking the appropriate medication, the fever did not go and the fatigue increased. I suddenly lost consciousness. I found myself in the hospital with my wife and son by my side… The doctors didn’t know what it was. They only gave me transfusions and helped me breathe. It had to be something serious, but I wanted to live. I wanted to keep painting, keep telling my story to the world. I felt close to the love of Enza and Filippo and my closest friends who called them every day. I couldn’t give up.
On August 15, the man, who had no particular pathologies, was admitted to the Sant’Antonio Abate Hospital in Trapani for respiratory failure. Then his condition worsened. Finished in the intensive care unit, the diagnosis came: It was Nile fever. I was the first Sicilian case of West Nile fever – we read on the artist’s Facebook page -. A disease that is not usually fatal, but sometimes very insidious. And unfortunately my body didn’t react well. My thoughts were there, but I couldn’t move. My internal organs didn’t work either. In the hospital, they tried them all, but there was no way. I flew away and discover other things. I am writing to you now and I am borrowing the hands of Enza, Filippo, Andrea and my closest friends to tell you that I am not dead.
Calascibetta lived in the district of Cutusio, a village on the north side of Marsala. In recent weeks, after discovering the case, the ASP of Trapani has ordered checks on the farms located within a three-kilometer radius of the man’s home. Two horses and a dog have tested positive for the virus. There is another suspected case in a horse in Alcamo, also in the Trapani area. With Mama Calascibetta, a painter and a personality go beyond – said the Mayor of Palermo Roberto Lagalla –. He was strongly connected to life, but unfortunately he had to surrender to this fight. My thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to his family and close ones. The final farewell is expected on Wednesday from 11am at his home in Marsala.
October 3, 2022 (change October 3, 2022 | 13:14)
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