After a heavy snowfall, the snow-covered roads look beautiful, soft, and smooth, but when snow melts, potholes appear.
Obviously, the snow-covered road is a metaphor. What the proverb means is that when the veil of illusion covering your real being is removed, you will show your real nature and shortcomings.
A friend of mine once told me that he was going to get married to a girl he had come across through a dating site.
“Do you know her?” I asked him.
“I have never met her,” he replied, “but I’ve seen her picture on the computer and I’ve been chatting with her for a year. She is very beautiful and smart!”
A few months later, I met him again. He was a bit depressed, for the engagement had fallen apart. In fact, when he met the girl face to face, she was not beautiful at all. Her photo on the dating site was just a bait.
The moral of the story? We had better be straightforward and show ourselves as we are, otherwise ‘A squagliata da nivi si vidunu I purtusa! (When snow melts, potholes will appear!)
Ettore Grillo, author of these books:
– November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily (English edition)
– A Hidden Sicilian History (English edition)
– The Vibrations of Words (English edition)
– Travels of the Mind (English edition)
– Una Storia Siciliana Nascosta (edizione in lingua italiana)
– Viaggi della Mente (edizione in lingua italiana)
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