Letters from Calabria

By Marty Sturino

Travel, Travelogue, Short Stories, Europe, Italy, Calabria
Many of these stories portray a patchwork of sad irony, absolute dichotomy, or cruel joke, foisted upon Calabria’s children. Sadly, many will not visit for fear of some hidden danger; or those who do, without staying long enough to appreciate her inner beauty, look down their noses despairingly at her faults, failing to consider what she has had to endure. They see a poor woman, stripped of her treasures and occasionally her dignity--whose youth continue to flee for a better education and the chance of a job, just as they have done since the unification of Italy. A place to be avoided, in favor of the more popular and gentrified destinations.
However, there is also a golden thread woven throughout all of them that gleams with possibilities. At least for some, Calabria is instead, the kind heart of Italy. She may have little to be arrogant about today, but has much to make her proud. For sure, she has nurtured kind and gentle people, intelligent and hard working, who choose to stay and scratch out a living in a weak economy beset by organized crime, and punitive taxes.
Yet throughout her land, there is quiet optimism, even joy in the lives of those who remain. In their stoic, even heroic manner, they endure, as they have for so many generations, taking comfort in her natural beauty, the fraternity of her children and comfortable climate. If only her youngest and brightest could stay and earn a decent living while fueling her economic and artistic development, thereby removing her shabby trappings to expose the beautiful lady that she is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marty Sturino
• Release date: Sep 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9780988980341

Marty Sturino

Marty Sturino was born and educated in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Business Administration degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside. He divides his time between his American life in the Mid-West where he does ad-hoc business consulting, and his Calabrian Life along the Ionian Sea where he researches and writes about Calabria. His objective is to tell human interest stories from the heart, that convey a sense of the region today to the children and grandchildren of those who emigrated from southern Italy during the last century. He is also the author of “Letters from Calabria,” a compilation of twenty of his popular “Dear All” letters designed for the arm chair traveler, in which he describes his Calabrian experiences with his readers.

Book preview

Letters from Calabria

By Marty Sturino

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Copyright © 2013

Marty Sturino

Smashwords Edition

Discover other Marty Sturino titles at Smashwords.com

Ecco Qui Publishing

Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin U.S.A.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to others, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

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Dedicated to Rose Sturino

The dearest, sweetest Calabrian never to set foot in Italy

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Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Patrimony

The Proposal

First Impressions

The Italian Teacher

Consider Calabria

The Olive Harvest

Antiquity

After the Rain

Summer Beaches

The Overnight Train

Rainy Day

Will Work for Rigatoni

Catanzaro

Bunga Bunga

Pasqua in Calabria

The Day Trip

A Simple Meal

Lovely Lady Calabria

Extra Virgin - It Isn't the Olives

Grandpa

Thank You

About the Author

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Preface

As a kid growing up in the Mid-west, very little about Calabria, or Italy for that matter, was ever told to me by my parents or grandparents. There was never talk of going back or making a visit, and no mention of relatives that might still be there. I guessed that it must have been very poor and therefore had little to offer.

But, as an adult, after visiting Italy while on business, I enjoyed most everything about it, but particularly the kinship I felt with my Italian colleagues, and perhaps because of my lack of any real knowledge about the place, I decided that I had to discover Italy and Calabria for myself. As I told family and friends of my decision some expressed concern for my safety, assuming only criminals and gangs lived here, and others asked why I would bother to go back to the problems of the old country. But I did go, and was rewarded for my efforts a hundred times over as I marveled at the beauty of the physical environment, richness of the traditions, and friendliness of the people.

In time, I became convinced that sharing my new found knowledge and a sense of my own experiences might benefit those who hadn’t had the opportunity to visit, or live here as I have. If nothing else, I hope that the reader comes to see Calabria as a place to be visited, even explored, not a place to shy away from.

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Introduction

To see something or someplace clearly,

One must use both the logical and emotional brain.

The first to see what it is,

And the other to reveal its soul

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Dear All,

Far too many of the stories I tell portray a patchwork of sad irony, absolute dichotomy, or cruel joke, foisted upon Calabria’s children. However, there is also a golden thread woven throughout all of them that gleams with possibilities. It is the hope that she will one day be seen by others for the lady she is. Sadly, many will not visit for fear of some hidden danger; or those who do, without staying long enough to appreciate her inner beauty, look down their noses despairingly at her faults, failing to consider what she has had to endure. They see a poor woman, stripped of her treasures and occasionally her dignity--to be avoided, in favor of the more popular and gentrified destinations.

At least in my truth, Calabria is instead, the kind heart of Italy. She may have little to be arrogant about today, but has much to make her proud. For sure, she has nurtured kind and gentle people, intelligent and hard working, who choose to stay and scratch out a living in a weak economy beset by organized crime, and punitive taxes.

Sadly, her youth continue to flee to the north for a better education and the chance of a job, just as they have done since the unification of Italy. Yet throughout her land, there is quiet optimism, even joy in the lives of those who remain. In their stoic, even heroic manner, they endure, as they have for so many generations, taking comfort in her natural beauty, the fraternity of her children and comfortable climate. If only her youngest and brightest could stay and earn a decent living while fueling her economic and artistic development, thereby removing her shabby trappings to expose the beautiful lady she is. …

If only...

Basta

Martino

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Patrimony

What treasures lie beyond her facade?

And beckon us to linger and explore.

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Dear All,

What does it mean to be rich? In a world focused on wealth, it has to do with bank accounts, houses, and cars. Shame on us if we stop there. In the spiritual sense, wealth is more about piety and devotion. For the secular individual, perhaps, riches come in the form of special qualities such as compassion, simple goodness, intellect, unique talents or exceptional health.

If they are able to, Christians visit the Holy Land, to wander the streets of Jerusalem and visit the holy sites where Jesus and his followers walked during the Roman occupation. It is most often a once-in-a-lifetime experience that leaves an indelible mark on the religious pilgrim or the intrepid tourist. It changes them, either from experiencing the intensity of the fervor shown by the organized religions, or by just being there and bringing what had been until then a Bible story from a distant land into our own physical and mental consciousness. Perhaps more than we might expect, even a short time in Jerusalem or Bethlehem teaches us who we are; for surely, those Bible stories and the tenets of the world we grew up in have their origins there.

Calabria, as well as the other regions of Italy, has riches too, often referred to collectively as patrimony--the wealth of the nation handed down from the generations, and that too comes in a diversity of forms. No, she is not rich in artifacts and gold, long since looted from her landscape and treasuries. Calabria is particularly rich in the bounties of Nature, environmental diversity, natural resources like timber, and a year-round growing season that yields an abundance of fresh fruits, flowers and vegetables. Lavish sunlight and mild weather foster a slower, relaxed life style, too. Calabria, like the rest of Italy, is particularly rich in the heritage of humanity, rich in history and culture, and rich in the essential qualities of tranquility and propriety that permeate her society to the benefit of those who live here. Moreover, to complement her cultivated demeanor, she is rich in simple beauty and soft Mediterranean charm. Her villages cascade down mountain sides embraced by dense forests or sit atop plateaus, or are nestled in her valleys alongside cascading waterfalls, or perched on promontories high above her magnificent coastlines, surrounded by seas of deep azure blue that mirror the sky, as if always in harmony with the heavens.

For individuals of southern Italian descent, a visit or vacation in Calabria, Sicily, Basilicata or Puglia can have a effect similar to the experience of a pilgrim visiting the Holy Land. That of revealing to us, perhaps unknowingly, what made us who we are, by demonstrating the ways of people who shaped our own views of the world and how we fit into it. And as with the Holy Land, the benefit is not limited to those of Italian extraction, for the lessons of Calabria are universal in application, based on the rich traditions of those who came before, from the Asian, African, and European continents at times to coexist, and at times to wage war.

Should you decide to visit Italy some day, consider extending