L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020 L'Italo-Americano F atta l'Italia biso- gna fare gli Ita- liani, Massimo d ' A z e g l i o used to say in the wake of the events of Risorgi- mento. "Once Italy is made, w e m u s t m a k e I t a l i a n s . " D ' A z e g l i o , w h o k n e w a thing of two about politics and the way they used to work back then, had a point: the country was divided in a number of little states, each with its own bureaucracy, social habits, traditions and even languages, if we consi- der that the vast majority of people then spoke dialects. Fast forward some 150 y e a r s a n d I t a l y , w i t h i t s regional peculiarities and quirks, remains a multi- faceted place, as anyone who has visited the country can tell you. While some dif- f e r e n c e s a r e s u p e r f i c i a l , others can be quite puzzling. For instance, the fact we eat dinner earlier in the North than in the South is no big- gie, while the much nar- r o w e r o u t l o o k o n s o c i a l h a b i t s a n d i n t e r p e r s o n a l relationships of the South can be source of problems, especially for the younger generations. The most bla- tant example is probably the way male-female relation- ships are treated, especially when it comes to women: Italian girls from the North tend to, let us say, experien- ce the Male Universe more freely than their southern sisters. Similarly, family's influence and opinion are n o t a s f u n d a m e n t a l f o r a couple, say, from Veneto, as t h e y a r e f o r o n e f r o m Campania. Don't get me wrong, we are " all children of the same mother," as we enjoy to say, b u t e v e n a S o u t h e r n e r would admit that, when it c o m e s t o r o m a n c e , t h e North is pretty uninhibited w h e n c o m p a r e d t o t h e South. The gap was certainly more evident some 40 or 50 years ago, but it remains still today. Of course, everyone with even the tiniest knowledge of Italy is aware of the eco- n o m i c g a p b e t w e e n t h e North and the South, a gap that lays its roots in history and in the unashamed colo- nial exploitation of our s o u t h e r n r e g i o n s b y foreign powers before the Unification, exploitation the Savoias, we must be honest here, did little to nothing to terminate. This difference is still very present, in all its dramatic nature and it is no joke. But let's not look at this today. There's enough negativity and worry in the world to add more to the article you r e a d w h i l e s i p p i n g y o u r m o r n i n g c a f f è . N o , l e t ' s look at quirky differences, at curious differences, at unusual differences, kee- ping in mind that, just like the way two siblings' with apparently contrasting cha- r a c t e r s — a n d a t t i m e s q u a r r e l i n g n a t u r e s ! — never ends being siblings, the North and the South of Italy remain two parts of the same soul. M a n y s a y t h a t s o c i a l habits in the South are the same the North had some 50 or 60 years ago: eating o n l y w h e n e v e r y o n e i s h o m e , o v e r - p r o t e c t i v e mothers, and the idea there are clothes for the week and c l o t h e s p e r l a d o m e n i c a , when going to mass beco- mes a social event. Well, sorry to all supporters of the theory, but the same still happens above the Gothic Line, you know. Y o u s e e , m o r e t h a n a North-South difference, the r e s p e c t o f o l d - f a s h i o n e d , traditional habits seems to be a matter of urban versus rural environment: I come f r o m a s m a l l v i l l a g e i n Piedmont and we still wait for everyone being home to sit down at the table, moms would keep their children h o m e u n t i l t h e y a r e o l d enough to claim a free bus pass and yes, we do have S u n d a y o u t f i t s . A n d y e s again, mass is a social event as much as it is a religious one. There are some things where we differ, though. L e t ' s s t a r t f r o m t h e k i t - c h e n : N a t i o n a l Geographics has recently r e p o r t e d t h a t N o r t h e r n regions tend to use butter m o r e t h a n o l i v e o i l i n their traditional recipes— with the only exception of Liguria, one of Italy's largest olive oil producers. Butter is the most called for condi- ment in Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Emilia Romagna, with olive oil winning all competitions in the rest of the country. I t a l y ' s a t t i t u d e t o f a s t food also changes depen- ding on latitude, with fast f o o d c h a i n s h a v i n g m o r e stores in the North than in the South. Indeed, this may go hand in hand with the fact that the North of Italy has, historically, been more influenced by the trends and habits of neighboring coun- tries than the South. When it comes to alcohol con- s u m p t i o n , t h e N o r t h comes on top again, at least according to ISTAT data col- lected in 2017, with North- Orientals being the heaviest d r i n k e r s i n t h e c o u n t r y : well… they did invent grap- pa, in the end! Now, let's leave behind f o o d , d r i n k a n d S u n d a y mass to focus on the way Italians speak. Of course, we all speak the same beau- tiful language, the idiom of Dante and love, the only o n e i n t h e w o r l d w h e r e insults can sound as sweet to one's ear as a declaration of love — although French has the same effect, in my h u m b l e o p i n i o n . B u t a s every single Italian on each s i d e o f t h e A t l a n t i c c a n t e s t i f y , e a c h r e g i o n , n a y ! Each village in Italy has its own dialect, which is not necessarily similar in any way to Italian. Piedmontese, for instance, is way closer to French than it is to Italian and Sicilian may be unintel- ligible to someone born in Veneto. In the North, the use of dialect is still fairly common in rural areas, but tends to be spoken only by t h e o l d e r g e n e r a t i o n s . Younger people — and by younger I mean even those i n t h e i r e a r l y 4 0 s — a r e likely to understand it, but not speak it. In the North, dialects have also been long associated with lower levels of formal education, althou- g h t h i s i s n o t a l w a y s t h e c a s e . T h e S o u t h , o n t h e other hand, loves its dia- lects: young and old, uni- versity educated or not, peo- ple in the South are usually keen — and proud — dialect speakers. A n d w h a t a b o u t English? Well, Italians are not good at languages, the whole world knows it: our disgraceful linguistic curri- c u l u m i s n o t o r i o u s , b u t southern regions fare worse t h a n n o r t h e r n ' s w h e n i t comes to English knowledge so, if you're planning a trip to Sicily or Apulia, dust off those old dialectal expres- sions your grandma used to l o v e , b e c a u s e t h e y m a y come handy indeed! Italian heritage from North to South: a boy from the Alps, a girl from the South (Photo: Dreamstime) The great North and South divide… and why in the end we are the same Italians from Piedmont to Sicily FRANCESCA BEZZONE LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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