Becoming Italian Word by Word

Celebrating a Nation and a Saint in Italy

Throughout Italy the Festa della Repubblica (Festival of the Republic) on June 2 commemorates the day in 1946 when the Italian people voted for a republic as their national form of government. Our adopted seaside town of Porto Ercole on the western coast of Tuscany has a double reason to celebrate.

June 2 is also la festa di Sant’Erasmo, the patron saint of the ancient fishing port and of all mariners. In addition to concerts, a rowing race, dances and a solemn mass, Porto Ercole honors its saint with a  procession of his relics to the sea, a lighted boat parade and a spectacular display of fireworks.

"Who was this Saint Erasmo?"  I asked a friend born on June 2 in Porto Ercole and, of course, named Erasmo. A bishop, he told me. Several of his fellow Portercolesi added that Erasmo was a martyr who once saved  a ship of local sailors from a tempest at sea.

To find out more, I went to Wikipedia, which presents the gruesome suffering of Sant’Erasmo  (known in English-speaking lands as Saint Elmo) as the stuff of legend. In the late third century, during the Roman persecution of Christians, Erasmo was jailed, "besprinkled...with foulness,” beaten with leaden mauls until his veins burst, thrown into a pit of snakes and worms and covered with boiling oil and sulfur. Through it all he remained calm, “thanking and loving God." Then lightning struck and electrocuted everyone around him.

Continuing to preach the Gospel, Erasmo was again captured and tortured, this time with burning oil poured into his mouth and a searing hot metal cloak wrapped around him. An angel swept him to safety. Other torturers plucked out his teeth with pincers, scraped his skin with an iron wool carder and pulled out his eyes with their fingers. In the grisliest account, Erasmo’s stomach was slit open and his intestines wound around a windlass, a type of winch used to hoist an anchor on a ship. 

Finally Erasmo was burned alive. A bluish flame appeared on the top of the pyre  and was interpreted as the saint’s soul ascending to heaven. The electrical discharges at the mastheads of ships during storms came to be called "Saint Elmo's Fire” (fuoco di Sant’Erasmo), a sign of the martyr’s protection.

The nationwide festivities on June 2 commemorate a much more recent event.  After the end of World War II, the Italian people went to the ballot boxes to choose the type of government they wanted. On June 2 and 3, 1946, they voted to end the monarchy that had ruled their country for 85 years. The final tally: 12,717,923 votes for the Republic and 10,719,284 against.

King Umberto II of the royal house of Savoy was deposed, and the male descendants of the family were exiled. A new nation—la Repubblica d’Italia—was born.

Although the Second of June has since become a national holiday,  for the people of Porto Ercole, it remains, first and foremost, a day to honor Il loro santo patrono--their patron saint.  

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World. For more information,  visit diannehales.com.

 

An Interview on LA PASSIONE in English--and Italian

by Catherine Accardi

L’Italo-Americano had the opportunity to speak with Dianne Hales about her book and her “Italian-ness” at the presentation of LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World at the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco. (These articles originally appeared in L’Italo-Americano; the following is an excerpt.)

What was your inspiration for LA PASSIONE?  Is it a companion to, or does it differ from, the message of your prior books, LA BELLA LINGUA and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered?

At first I studied Italian simply to be able to communicate with the people I met on trips, but then I discovered its wonderful backstory—full of poets, princes and a rowdy group of young Florentines who compiled the first dictionary, made up of what they considered “the most beautiful flowers” in the “vulgar” or common language. This inspired LA BELLA LINGUA.

While in Florence, I became friends with an art historian who lived in the palazzo where Mona Lisa’s mother grew up. I was so taken by the notion of Leonardo’s muse as an actual Renaissance woman that I set out to reconstruct her story in Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered.

At a reading for that book, a man asked, “So are you done with Italy?” The question struck me as absurd. Italy wasn’t done with me.

I began looking for the common thread that could explain my quasi-obsession with all things Italian. And that’s how I found la passione.

Cosa ha ispirato LA PASSIONE? E' una guida o ha un messaggio diverso rispetto ai suoi libri precedenti?

All'inizio avevo studiato l'italiano semplicemente per poter comunicare con le persone che avevo incontrato in viaggio, ma poi ho scoperto la sua meravigliosa meravigliosa storia, piena di poeti, di principi e un chiassoso gruppo di giovani fiorentini che aveva compilato il primo dizionario, composto con quelli che consideravano ”i fiori più belli" della lingua "volgare" o lingua della gente comune.

Mentre ero a Firenze, sono diventata amica di uno storico dell'arte che viveva nel palazzo dove è cresciuta la madre di Monna Lisa. Sono rimasta talmente colpita dal concetto di musa di Leonardo come vera donna del Rinascimento, che ho deciso di ricostruire la sua storia inMonna Lisa: A Life Discovered.

Leggendo quel libro, un uomo mi chiese: "Hai chiuso con l'Italia?”

La domanda mi era sembrata assurda. L'Italia non aveva chiuso con me. Ho iniziato a cercare un filo conduttore che potesse spiegare la mia quasi-ossessione con tutte le cose italiane. Ed è così che ho trovato la passione.

Your enthusiasm for all thing Italian is captivating. To what do you owe your irresistible "Italian-ness"? 

Italians tell me that I remind them of what they love about their country but often forget as they cope with day-to-day frustrations, politics, bureaucracy, etc.

When I was interviewing a young prosciutto maker in Parma, I asked him if he felt a passion for his work. At first he was stumped, but then he became almost tearful talking about what it meant to be carrying on the tradition of his father and grandfather. Afterward, my guide, who also had tears in his eyes, came over and hugged me. “You see what we cannot because we live with it every day,” he said.

Non-Italians may respond, not so much to me, as to the Italy I represent—the semi-magical place that has enchanted millions for centuries. And I’m honored to do so and to celebrate the best of Italy.

Il suo entusiasmo per tutto ciò che è italiano è accattivante. A cosa deve la sua irresistibile "italianità"?

Gli italiani mi dicono che ricordo loro ciò che amano del loro paese, ma che spesso dimenticano di fronte alle frustrazioni quotidiane, alla politica, alla burocrazia, ecc.

Quando stavo intervistando un giovane che produce prosciutto a Parma, gli ho chiesto se provava passione per il suo lavoro. All'inizio era perplesso, ma poi si sciolto quasi in lacrime nel parlare di cosa significasse portare avanti la tradizione di suo padre e di suo nonno. In seguito, la mia guida, che aveva anche lei le lacrime agli occhi, si avvicinò e mi abbracciò.

"Tu vedi quello che noi non possiamo vedere perché lo viviamo ogni giorno", mi disse. I non italiani possono rispondere, non tanto a me, quanto all'Italia che rappresento, il luogo semi-magico che ha incantato milioni di persone per secoli. E sono onorata di farlo e di celebrare il meglio dell'Italia.

The fact that you are not of Italian descent makes your books even more remarkable. How do you explain to your fans this passione for all aspects of the culture? 

My father asked the same question when LA BELLA LINGUA came out in 2009 (when he was 90). He wondered how he and my mother—children of Polish immigrants—ended up with an Italian daughter.

I have been told that I have “an Italian soul.” Perhaps we all do. I agree with Luigi Barzini that there is a little part in every person that is Italian—just as there is some part of Italy in every realm of Western civilization. This is what gives us—regardless of genetic background—the potential to love deeply, pursue beauty, cherish family and friends, feel compassion and empathy with others. This is the timeless essence of our humanity.

From my very first trip more than three decades ago, Italy has touched me at every level—intellectual, spiritual, emotional, visceral. I feel that it added another dimension to my life and opened up a new chamber in my heart. And I’m very grateful that it did!

Il fatto che lei non sia di origine italiana rende i suoi libri ancora più notevoli. Come spiega ai suoi fan questa passione per tutti gli aspetti della cultura?

Mio padre mi ha fatto la stessa domanda quando uscì La Bella Lingua nel 2009 (allora aveva 90 anni). Si chiedeva come mai lui e mia madre -- figli di immigrati polacchi -- si fossero ritrovati con una figlia italiana.

Mi è stato detto che ho "un'anima italiana". Forse l’abbiamo tutti. Sono d'accordo con Luigi Barzini secondo cui c'è una piccola parte italiana in ogni persona,così come c'è una parte l’Italia in ogni luogo della civiltà occidentale.

Questo è ciò che ci dà -- indipendentemente dal background genetico -- la possibilità di amare profondamente, perseguire la bellezza, amare la famiglia e gli amici, provare compassione ed empatia con gli altri. Questa è l'essenza senza tempo della nostra umanità.

Fin dal mio primo viaggio più di tre decenni fa, l'Italia mi ha toccato a tutti i livelli: intellettuale, spirituale, emotivo, viscerale. Sento che ha aggiunto un'altra dimensione alla mia vita e ha aperto un nuovo spazio nel mio cuore. E sono molto grata che l'abbia fatto!

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World. For more information,  visit diannehales.com.

Confessions of an Italian Appassionata

In a culinary academy in Florence, I asked an architect-turned-chef-turned-restaurateur about the passions that had changed her life: How did she know that she was choosing the right one?

“Ah, signora,” she replied. “We do not choose our passion. Passion chooses us.”

I understood. Italy chose me.

More than thirty years ago, shivering in a frigid Swiss station after a talk in Gstaad, I impetuously headed south to a sun-kissed country I’d never visited. I had no reservations, no itinerary, no inkling of what I might discover. The last thing I expected was to fall in love—but I did.

Day by day, sometimes hour by hour, Italy seduced me with tastes, sounds, scents, and sensations I’d never encountered before. At first, Italy’s symphony of chaos simply swept over me. As I returned year after year, Italy tugged me deeper into its explosive energy. Without realizing exactly how, I became appassionata, a word that dates back to the fourteenth century and translates as “swept away by passion.”

A few years ago I set off to discover the sources and secrets of la passione italiana, travelling north to the Dolomites and south to Sicily, from Sardinia’s rugged western coast to Venice’s labyrinth of canals. My explorations inspired La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World, a portrait more of a spirit than a nation.

Italians, born to the peal of church bells and the bite of pasta al dente (literally “to the tooth”), inhabit a more complex and confounding country than the one I’ve come to love. But my perspective enables me to notice what they may take for granted. In Parma, at the end of an interview with a young man named Stefano in — of all places— his family’s prosciutto processing plant, my guide, who had been listening nearby, walked over and hugged me. A bit taken aback by this unexpected gesture, I looked at him quizzically.

“La nostra bellezza!” (Our beauty!), he exclaimed. “You have seen what we cannot see because we live inside it. The things we Italians do— yes, it’s work, but you realize that what gives it meaning is passion. You didn’t ask Stefano what he does but what it means to him. And maybe for the first time in his life, he recognized that what he feels for this place, for this work, is passion.”

La passione italiana, I discovered, sprouts in all sorts of places, including crowded airports. In several I came across grand pianos—at first, I assumed only for display. Then I read the sign perched atop one: Suonami! (Play me!). Passengers, pausing as they slogged to and from airline gates, did just that.

While waiting for a flight from Rome to Palermo, I listened to a young girl tentatively finger the melody of “Volare.” Two teenagers giggled through a fast-paced pop song. Then a wiry, curly-haired man in his thirties stopped, took off his jacket, sat down, and launched into a sonata that stopped passersby in their tracks. Eyes closed, fingers never slowing, oblivious to flight announcements and the gathering crowd, he played with utter concentration, his music echoing through the crowded terminal.

I didn’t recognize the piece, but I knew what I was hearing: la passione italiana. And once again  I was swept away.

This post is adapted from LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World.  Dianne Hales is also the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered. For more information, visit diannehales.com.

The Power of a Passion for Italy

My little book on the Italian language had taken a beating.

The couple who brought the tattered, battered copy of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language to the Italian Cultural and Community Center in Houstonexplained what had happened: They had trekked with it to every city, site, church, museum and restaurant mentioned in the book. They are planning to do the same with my new book, LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World—but that’s not all. They are moving to Italy next year. “Your books changed our lives,” they told me.

I was deeply touched, but I also recognized the underlying force that had possessed them: la passione italiana. For years I’ve felt the same insatiable hunger to explore, discover, create, pursue beauty, love and live with every fiber of one’s being. The most gratifying aspect of my recent book tour has been discovering how this passion  has touched and even transformed other lives.

At the Eagle Eye Bookshop in Atlanta, a woman shared a journal she kept during her travel in Italy. It literally overflowed with photos, postcards, ticket stubs, hand-written notes, dozens of other reminders of special times in special places. I could feel the passion captured in its pages.

At the American Italian Cultural Center in New Orleans, several Italian-Americans described how my books have rekindled their pride in and passion for their ethnic roots.  Some have taken Italian courses and  become fluent in Italian; a few have applied for dual citizenship.  Two proud parents were bringing LA PASSIONE  to their daughter, an opera singer in Milan.

“Let yourself be inspired,” I encouraged everyone who came to our events. Rita Richardson, an Italian-American from Nashville, offered personal testimony as she recounted the back story of her passion to save an abandoned Baroque chapel in the Tuscan town of Castiglion Fiorentino.

At each stop in our tour, when Rita showed images of the chapel, audiences gasped to see the beautiful frescoes, statues and coffered ceiling hidden inside the little church and applauded the ongoing efforts of the Friends of San Filippino to preserve this architectural and spiritual jewel.

The “Passion for Joy” tour continues next month in Italy. The town of Castiglion Fiorentino has organized a special celebration on Sunday, June 9. In addition to my presentation and and Rita’s update on progress being made on the chapel project, children of the local middle school will be displaying artworks to sell to raise funds for the restoration.  Others are translating my account of the “Save San Filippino” campaign in LA PASSIONE into Italian to read aloud. And, of course, there will be music and food and great fun. Please come if you’re in the area.

Rita and I will also be presenting in Florence at the  IBS Bookstore on Tuesday, June 11, at 6:00 p.m. and at the British Institute on Wednesday, June 12, at 6:00 p.m. I look forward to meeting you. Come celebrate the power of la passione with us!

I’d also like to extend heartfelt thanks to the Italian Cultural and Community Center of Houston, the American Italian Cultural Center of New Orleans,Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Octavia Books in New Orleans and Eagle Eye Bookshop in Atlanta, three of the independent book sellers who are the heroes of authors everywhere.

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and  LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World. For more information on her and her upcoming events, visit diannehales.com.

Celebrating Mothers with Italian Passion

Italy has been celebrating mothers for more than 2000 years.

As the dark, cold winter gave way to the bright rebirth of Spring, the ancient Romans paid tribute to their gods of fertility. One holiday, Matronalia, was dedicated to Juno, the queen of the gods, and children gave gifts to their mothers on this day.

Traditionally la festa della mamma in Italy fell on May 8. The current practice of celebrating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May started in 1957. But la mamma italiana is the center of her family’s life every day of the year. Men may hold the highest political offices, but the person at the helm of the family—the strongest Italian institution—is Mamma.

“La mamma è sempre la mamma” (the Mom is always the Mom), Italian friends say, adding, “ma molto, molto di più per noi italiani!” (but much, more more for us Italians). Why does an Italian mother inspire such passionate devotion? Here are some reasons Italian writers offer:

*She is una sorta di creatura mitologica (a sort of mythological creature).
A wizard at multi-tasking, she can do many things at once—working, cooking, running errands, yet always keeping in mind every single event taking place that day in the lives of her loved ones. 

*She has i super poteri (super powers).
Even when she is not physically with them, la mamma manages to be present with her heart -- feeling and knowing what is happening in her children’s lives and always just an SMS (text) or call away.

*Her kitchen is il miglior ristorante del mondo (the best restaurant in the world.)
Even in the finest of dining establishments, Italians fondly recall how their mothers prepared the same dish—and inevitably did it better.

*She is an enciclopedia vivente (living encyclopedia).
Far more reliable than Siri or Alexa, Italian mothers know how to do everything: fight a cold, soothe a baby, fix almost anything that breaks, transform a simple meal into a feast, help heal a broken heart.

*She is (quasi) sempre ragione (almost always right).
Italians estimate that an Italian mother’s grado di infallibilità (degree of infallibility) approaches 99 percent. The reason: She combines wisdom with il grande dono dell’empatia (the great gift of empathy) so she responds with her heart as well as her head.

It’s no wonder that mothers inspired the most common—and versatile --expression in Italian: Mamma mia! Literally “my Mom,” the phrase can translate as “My God!”, “How great!”, “Oh no!”, “Incredible!” and hundreds of other meanings, depending on context and inflection. These two words can convey a wide range of human emotions--from surprise to shock, delight to disbelief, joy to horror. But when a child utters them, they always resound with love.

Mothers everywhere share the soul of la mamma Italiana. So what better place to take your Mom than Italy--if only in the pages of a book?  Use code MOTHERSDAY19 for 20% off at penguinrandomhouse.com and free shipping!

Auguri a tutte le mamme! Best wishes to all mothers!

Dianne Hales is the author of LA PASSIONE: How Italy  Seduced the World,  LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language and MONA LISA: A Life Discovered. For more information on her and her Spring book tour, visit her website: diannehales.com.