"The Streets of Napoli" The story of Domenico Catanese, from the album "Songs of the Sea"

I finally got around to making a video for this song from my album "Songs of the Sea". the video also features a new arrangement of the song. For so many years I'd looked at the grave of Domenico at St. Materiana's Church, Tintagel, and wondered how a young fourteen year old boy could have ended his life so tragically on the rocky coast of Cornwall.. what was his story?. I wrote the song fantasising about a mother left in Italy, never able to visit her son's grave. When the true story of his life was uncovered by my Italian friend Beatrice Prunetti, it turned out to be far darker and more tragic than I could have possibly imagined. Sold into slavery at the age of 9 by his family, Domenico's young body became deformed and damaged as he grew up, no doubt as a result of carrying heavy loads of sulphur ore and poor nourishment. He was eventually bought out of his slavery by the crew of the "Iota", a rare thing for the day, by all accounts. Why he was rescued by the Crew from his slavery we can only guess, but nonetheless it must have been a turning point in Domenico's life to become a cabin boy onboard an ocean going tall ship. He was said to be spirited, feisty and indomitable in spite of the hardships he had endured. His life ended on one of his first voyages on "Iota" when the ship foundered in a storm on Lye Rock, Bossiney in December 1893 and he was drowned after falling between the ship and the rocks trying to get ashore. One of the crewmen also drowned trying to save him. A sobering tale of the hardships and cruelty generations past have had to endure just to survive.... and perhaps a source of strength for future generations when life seems tough.