In the beginning of my Italian studies I only wanted to naively believe as most American tourist who have the privilege to travel to Italy for our typical two weeks abroad that Italy consist only of “ La Dolce Vita” from Federico Fellini’s 1960 film. Or at least I want to close my eyes and only see the beautiful landscape of Tuscany, sip my cappuccino in Cinque Terre, parade around the cobble stone streets of Rome, Venice and Florence in my newly purchased Italian leather boots. Eat freshly made pasta from “ That’s Amore” just minutes from the Trevi Fountain, and end the evening stroll with a multi-flavored gelato meandering the ancient streets of Rome. After all, this has become part of the new American Dream since Frances Mayes immortalized Cortona in the writing of her book “ Under the Tuscan Sun”. However, now that I am a bona fide student of Italian language and culture I must acknowledge the good, the bad and the ugly of Italian culture and somewhat dispel the concept of “Il Bel Paese”.
My journey began with a newly acquired understanding of the geography of Italy. All twenty regions compacted together forming the shape of a boot with two rather large outlying islands. I have never visited L’Umbria, but fell in love with a little town called Norcia nestled in the center of this region. After 800 years of silent prayers in the Monastery of San Benedetto, thanks to an American monk the Gregorian chants are once again being sung and heard throughout the streets of this little town. It reminds me of the tiny mill village in which I grew up in North Carolina where I could hear the church bells ringing on Sunday mornings through the open windows in our home. This makes me feel, in some small way connected to this region and the people of L’Umbria.
Journeying on through each unit of study, I was able to better understand that learning a new language also enlightens one to a much deeper understanding of the people and culture of the country. Life is not only beautiful but complex. As we studied the unification or Risorgimento of Italy, I came to realize the problems of “ the South” or Meridionale which consists of mainly many rural agricultural communities. Less emphasis on education and more areas of poverty have also been characteristic of the southern states in America. As racial prejudice and human slavery deeply scared lives in our country and still do, we also studied the cruelty of the Eco Mafia, their dumping of toxic waste which has contributed to much higher rates of cancer and the luring of little children to leave school and work in the shops in and around Naples. Of course greed, money laundering and bribery is at the heart of the lies and deceptions. However, I do believe that good and beauty will one day over power all evil, but unfortunately we only see small doses of it in this life. Thankfully, I found much beauty in the research of projects I chose to speak and write about. “Il Bacio” by Francesco Hayez, 1859, probably his best known work depicting Italian Romanticism and the spirit of Risorgimento. I discovered that in America we too are fascinated with “The Kiss” as captured by the photo in Times Square, NYC, 1945. And 75 years later the same photo was on the cover of Life Magazine.
My next unit of study about “Glocale” led me to research, write and present on a local company in Hillsborough, North Carolina started by three women, a mother and her two daughters who now own the largest Italian pottery import business in America. They contract with local artists in the town of Vietri Sul Mare along the southwestern coast of Italy to make beautiful, multicolored hand- made ceramics. This brings a part of Italy very close to my home.
In conclusion, my mind is much richer, my heart and soul are happier and I will definitely continue my Italian studies starting with my summer reading of I Promessi Spossi, by Alessandro Manzoni, first in English then in Italian. Ciao, ci vediamo!
