L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano T he mountain vil- lage of Nusco in t h e I r p i n i a r e g i o n t r u l y encapsulates the w a y t h i n g s w e r e . I t ' s a delight to wander the quiet cobbled streets, the alley- ways, and the many piazzas of this medieval town seem- ingly frozen in time. The Lombards founded N u s c o i n t h e 9 t h c e n t u r y over the ashes of a Roman town. Hannibal had crossed the village with his thirty- eight elephants during the S e c o n d P u n i c W a r w h i l e heading to conquer Apulia. Legend has it that he had a bridge built in the area in only one night. The Hanni- bal Bridge, also known as the Devil Bridge, remains one of the leading archaeo- logical attractions of Irpinia for lovers of ancient history and civilization. The small-town destina- tion, relatively high in alti- tude — 914 meters above sea level— should inspire your next trip to Southern Italy if you are looking for an eco- logical place to stay rested with your family or friends. "We are a corner of paradise, ideal for slow tourism," says a N u s c a n o , a l o c a l . " T h e fresh mountain air and nat- u r a l s u r r o u n d i n g s o f f e r a detox, unplugged stay far from city chaos, pollution, and noise." Nusco is in the Avellino hinterland, only 24 miles e a s t o f A v e l l i n o , a c i t y o f wines, and 43 miles from the beautiful, vibrant Naples. A b u c o l i c n o t h i n g n e s s o f mountains hills— the Pia- centini Mountains— envelop the borgo where two fast- moving, deep water bodies, the Calore Irpino and Ofanto Rivers, run. The latter, in its etymology, evokes Hanni- bal's elephants as the word Ofanto is a derivation of the Italian noun elefante. Leg- end has it that a few of his giant and intelligent pachy- derms got bogged down in the river mud, and as they d r o w n e d , t h e c h a r i s m a t i c general of antiquity would mourn their death. But these days, the locals are mourning the passing of Ciriaco de Mita, one of the most significant figures o f t h e P r i m a R e p u b b l i c a . The former Cristian Democ- rat leader, 94, was an illus- trious son of this Irpinia vil- lage born in 1928. And he has been mayor of Nusco s i n c e 2 0 1 4 . M r . D e M i t a served as Prime Minister of I t a l y f r o m A p r i l 1 9 8 8 t o July 1989. He entered poli- tics in the 1940s, but his political life blossomed in the late 1960s. A moved crowd gathered in the Piazza of the Cathe- dral for the funeral held in the basilica of Saint Amato. De Mita's health conditions deteriorated after a fall at home in February of this year. He had a long, eminent p o l i t i c a l c a r e e r , a n d h i s s t a t u r e d e r i v e s f r o m h i s contribution to the creation a n d s h a p i n g o f m o d e r n Italy and the improvement of the living conditions in Southern Italy. An armored Nusco wel- comed the representatives of politics and institutions who arrived to attend De Mita's funeral last Saturday. The President of the Repub- l i c , S e r g i o M a t t a r e l l a , was there for his farewell to longtime friend Ciriaco. L a t e i n d u s t r i a l i s t a n d p r i n c i p a l s h a r e h o l d e r o f Fiat Giovanni Agnelli had branded the southerner De Mita as an "intellectual of Magna Graecia." De Mita was a true intellectual. The son of a tailor and a house- w i f e , t h e y o u n g C i r i a c o attended the classical high school in the nearby village of Sant'Angelo dei Lombar- di and later won a scholar- s h i p t h a t a l l o w e d h i m t o s t u d y l a w a t t h e C a t h o l i c U n i v e r s i t y o f t h e S a c r e d Heart in Milan. Until the dissolution of the Christian Democratic p a r t y i n 1 9 9 4 , h e a l w a y s considered himself a left- wing Christian Democrat, not a communist at all. As a s e c r e t a r y o f D e m o c r a z i a C r i s t i a n a , h e a d a m a n t l y o p p o s e d t h e c o m m u n i s t p a r t y p o l i c y . A s k i l l e d s t r a t e g i s t , h e b e l i e v e d i n progress and reforms. In his speeches, he appealed to the aspirations of the artisans, shopkeepers, and farmers. In the most recent years, already in his nineties, he criticized the new genera- tion of politicians. "All these boyish people found them- selves thrown into the sky without any art. And from up there, from those incred- ible peaks, they will now crash to the ground. It is t h e l a w o f p h y s i c s . T h e higher you go without con- sidering that you have to know how to fly, the more the fall will be ruinous if y o u a r e h e a v y a n d l a c k wings." He observed today's soci- MARIELLA RADAELLI Statue of Saint Amato, patron of Nusco (Photo: Giambattista Lazazzera/Dreamstime) Nusco: spotless, high values village frozen in time LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Continued to page 18

• Cover