L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano O h R o m e o , R o m e o , w h e - refore are thou R o m e o ? W h o d o e s n ' t k n o w these heartfelt, love-filled words and the person who spoke them? It's Juliet, of course, perhaps the most well known of all Shakespearian heroines, unfortunate lover and misunderstood child. Her relationship with Romeo was ferociously opposed by both her family — the Capu- letis — and that of her para- mour, the M o n t e c c h i s , enemies and powerful lords of the city of Verona. As everyone knows, the unlucky t e e n s e n d e d u p d y i n g f o r love, after a series of adventu- res and dramatic decisions. Moral of the story? Parents, don't let your own beef with someone ruin your kids' life. W h e n w e t h i n k a b o u t Romeo and Juliet, there is a scene that, I am sure, springs to everyone's mind: it's Juliet, standing alone on her own home's balcony, asking to the stars where her beloved is and why he is a Montecchi. I am also quite sure that the balcony we think about is the same: small, made of marble, with typically gothic carvings. W h a t w e a r e t h i n k i n g a b o u t i s t h e b a l c o n y a t Verona's Casa di Giulietta, the building all tourists visit and where they leave thou- sand and thousands of love m e s s a g e s h i d d e n i n t h e cracks of its centuries-old walls. Here, a bronze statue of the young Veronese girl welcomes all visitors, her feet — and breasts! — much ligh- ter in color than the rest of her body, because of the con- tinuous touch of people. L o c a t e d a t 2 3 , V i a C a p p e l l o , n o t f a r f r o m famous Piazza delle Erbe, the Casa di Giulietta is dear to tourists and locals alike, but there may be confusion about its historicity and, in fact, about that of the protagonists of Shakespeare's tragedy. Research has long confirmed t h a t t h e t w o f a m i l i e s , Montecchi and Capuleti (Cappelletti, actually) really e x i s t e d : t h e f i r s t w e r e Veronese Ghibelline mer- chants, the latter were also merchants and their family was known in the city since the times of Dante's presence in Verona. The house we, today, call "Juliet's home," was probably built in the 13th century. It w a s p u r c h a s e d b y t h e C a p p e l l o f a m i l y , w e l l k n o w n p h a r m a c i s t s a n d importers of spices, who deci- d e d t o t r a n s f o r m i t i n a h o s p i t a l : n o t e t h a t t h e C a p p e l l o f a m i l y g i v e s i t s name to the street where the house stands and that… they a r e n o t t h e Cappelletti/Capuleti. In later centuries, between the 17th and the 19th, the building became a low quality inn and then, after that, was abando- ned until the early decades of t h e 2 0 t h c e n t u r y , w h e n famous restorer Antonio Avena decided, in 1932, it was time to bring it back to its former glory, all in name of Juliet. Never mind that w a s n ' t t h e h o m e o f h e r family: Cappello sounded e n o u g h l i k e Capuleti/Cappelletti to make it hers. Avena had a clear idea in mind, creating a museum dedicated to Shakespeare and t o t h e f a m o u s c o u p l e o f Veronese lovers he had made famous. Ideally, he would have wanted to create it in one of the original home of the Cappelletti/Capuleti, but t h e y w e r e l o c a t e d b y t h e Adige River and had to be destroyed to allow important maintenance works on its banks. At the time, Avena w a s i n c h a r g e o f t h e c i t y museum and made sure that a small, gothic balcony from the Cappelletti/Capuleti real home was kept; he had it moved to the Cappellos' pala- ce, which the city council had just bought to turn it into a museum: Avena pushed to make sure it was dedicated to Romeo and Juliet and, in 1935, he obtained permission from the city council to do so. Mind, this isn't the only ver- sion of the story: according to other researchers, the decora- ted marble slabs forming the balcony were waste material k e p t a t t h e M u s e o d i Castelvecchio, eventually selected by Avena to become Juliet's balcony. E i t h e r w a y , A v e n a h a d casa Cappello fully restored and the marble slabs added to its façade as a balcony, giving to the home the look we know and love. T o d a y , t h e C a s a d i Giulietta is a beloved tourist destination and, real or not, it has become the symbol of Shakespearan drama and u n d y i n g l o v e , m a k i n g o f Verona the most romantic of Italian cities. T oday's word, tre- m e n d o ( t r a i - m e h n - d o h ) comes from the L a t i n a d j e c t i v e tremendus which, in turn, derives from the verb treme- re, "to tremble or shake." If we take it at face value, then, tremendo may sound a bit frightening, as it adds the quality of inducing someone to tremble to whatever noun it goes with. T r e m e n d o can tell us o f t e n t h a t s o m e t h i n g o r s o m e o n e i s d a n g e r o u s o r p a i n f u l , a s i n t h e c a s e o f " S i a m o s t a t i d e r u b a t i , è stata un'esperienza tremen- da" ("we've been robbed, it was a terrible experience), or "Ho avuto un dolore tremen- d o a l l a t e s t a d o p o c e n a " (after dinner, I had an awful headache). In truth, our tremendo is not always that ominous, but it still adds, generally, negati- v e q u a l i t i e s : i f w e s a y "Quella canzone è inascolta- bile: il cantante ha una voce tremenda!"(I can't listen to that song: the singer has an awful voice), it's clear we don't have much faith in the musical skills of that perfor- mer. But when it refers to a person, tremendo doesn't necessarily add a negative quality, but one that shows whom we are talking about may be difficult to deal with: "E' una brava persona, ma ha un carattere tremendo" (he's a good guy, but he's got a difficult personality). For instance, it's often used when we want to say that a child is particularly naughty and dif- ficult to handle, as in "Tuo f i g l i o è t r e m e n d o ! N o n è s t a t o f e r m o u n m i n u t o " (your child is a hell-raiser: he didn't stop one minute to run around). In Italian, you'll also hear the adverb tremendamen- t e u s e d o f t e n . Tremendamente is common when we want to enhance the quality of an adjective, as in the case of quel libro è tre- mendamente noioso (that book is incredibly boring), but also, more positively, ho sentito una canzone tremen- damente bella, ma non so il titolo (I heard an incredibly beautiful song, but I don't know its title). — Sei tremendo, quando imparerai a stare zitto? — Y o u ' r e i n c r e d i b l e ! When will you learn to keep quiet? — E' stata un'esperienza tremendamente interessante — It's been an incredibly interesting experience — La crisi è stata tremen- da in queste vallate — The economic crisis hit these valleys hard LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the Day — tremendo: is it scary or is it nice? Italian Curiosities — What do you really know about the House of Juliet in Verona? Juliet's famous balcony, in Verona: but is that really her home? (Photo: Viorel Dudau/Dreamstime) © Nd3000 | Dreamstime.com

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