The Amalfi Curse

The sea witches’ cimaruta talismans serve as a motif of The Power of Love and Sacrifice. The cimaruta is a necklace adorned with charms and objects found in the sea. For example, Mari’s talisman features “a moon shell, an ammonite fossil, a kernel of gray volcanic pumice,” and “a tiny coral fragment in the perfect shape of a mountain” (22). The streghe receive the talismans when they are 15 years old, and the protective objects offer “great strength and vigor in moments of distress” (18).

The cimaruta’s connection to the vortice centuriaria cements its significance as a motif of the power of love and sacrifice. The curse is the most formidable spell in the witches’ arsenal, and it requires the ultimate sacrifice: “It could only be recited if a strega removed her protective cimaruta necklace. And the cost of performing such magic was substantial: she had to sacrifice her own life in order for the spell to be effective” (20). Emphasizing the immense power of sacrifice, the curse Imelda gives her life to cast sinks two of Matteo’s ships in a single day and lasts for 100 years. Mari knows for certain that her mother has sacrificed herself when she receives the “strand of seashells” that comprises her mother’s cimaruta because she knows that there is “only one reason she would have removed it” (287). Imelda’s sacrifice saves her daughter’s life, providing a pivotal example of the power of love.

Vivi’s sacrifice underlines the talismans’ thematic importance. During the epilogue, the witch removes her cimaruta to guide Mari and the other rescuers to the captives on Ischia. Although Vivi dies before help arrives, her “terribly brave decision” ensures that three children from Positano are freed (322): “Sacrifice, Lia was quickly learning, was the greatest form of love” (322). The cimaruta appears during key moments in the novel, demonstrating the tremendous power of women’s sacrificial love for their communities and families.