This workshop is an invitation to explore some aspects of the Sicilian ethos, through one of the most poignant one-act plays of Luigi Pirandello, set in his loved/hated island. In it, a grotesque argument about the difference between men and beasts is held against the background of an upsetting archaic rite of blood and devotion. So the philosophical and conversational attitude of Sicily’s Greek ancestors confronts a mixture of violence and sacredness, which has ever been the signature of the Mafia. Pirandello’s ironic gaze outlines the ambiguities of both attitudes, revealing how they are sides of the same coin, opposite faces of the Janus-like character that Leonardo Sciascia has called ‘sicilitude’. Pirandello offers the chance to penetrate this complex cultural and transpersonal heritage, permeating both the social exchanges and the individual psyche, through his allegoric approach, which is passionate and detached at the same time.