THE ITALIAN FAMILY- LA FAMIGLIA ITALIANA - PART 2

Before 1861 there was no country called Italy. The peninsula was a collection of small kingdoms, divided north and south. In the north was Rome, Milan and Florence, and of course growth, commerce, and culture - La Scala Opera, Di Vinci, Michelangelo, to name a few. However to the south, where the majority of the Italian Americans originate, was the impoverished "mezzogiorno region". The northern Italians called it "the land time forgot". This explains a lot. Last November I visited Italy and people always say how much northerners do not like the southerners. South of Naples (considered southern Italy) is a totally separate world. Southern Italians didn't call themselves Italians and didn't even know what Italian was. There was no Italy!

Eighty five percent of the movement to the United States comes from Calabria (the most destitute of all the 9 provinces in Sicily). The Southern Provinces had long been under control by the Spanish Bourbon Monarchy, leaving the peasants in poverty. In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi (an Italian revolutionary) began a military campaign. Garibaldi wanted Italy to be unified as a democracy, with a representative government. Garibaldi and 1,000 volunteers battled the Bourbon army. Even though Garibaldi's men were not equipped, with their sheer determination they forced the Bourbon rulers out for good. However, now they had to contend with the northern Italians.

The northern government did nothing for the southern Italian peasants. People were barely surviving, barely eating. Women would scrape plaster from the walls of their modest homes to make the flour for their bread go farther. Then the northern Italian government started taxing everything: mules, food, any small garden. This explains why Italians are so close knit and private. Everyone in authority was the enemy. If the government found out about a secret garden spot, they could tax you more. Hence - don't tell anyone anything! That attitude came with them to America.

Thank you! Good night and God Bless!   Aleta

"I find that other countries have this or that, but Italy is the only one that has it all for me. The culture, the cuisine, the people, the landscape, the history. Just everything to me comes together there."  Francis Mayes  - writer and professor