The Sicilian Inheritance

Caves are historically regarded as places of spiritual significance, where individuals seek enlightenment, wisdom, and connection to the divine. The mouth of the cave, which the villagers call “the dragon’s ear,” is a sacred, mystical place that also is the sight of pain and trauma. Rosalia, the healer who works in the cave, is named after Saint Rosalia, who lived a life of solitude and prayer in a cave. The nature of Rosalia’s work as a healer ostracizes her from society. Still, like her namesake, she rejects a conventional life, and the cave offers her refuge from a world that doesn’t understand her. The cave is not only a place for her to live and practice her herbal medicine in peace but also symbolizes a repository for Rosalia’s books chronicling her progressive techniques, considered forbidden knowledge. Rosalia’s methods help women get pregnant and have healthy, successful births. However, she also holds the knowledge of how to prevent and end pregnancy, both of which go against the villagers’ societal rules. 

For Serafina, the cave represents help, as she first travels there in desperation to end her unwanted pregnancy. Later, the cave represents the place of her education, as she becomes an apprentice to Rosalia and later takes her place as the village healer.