L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano S tereotypes are h a r d t o d i e a n d t h e y a r e m o r e complex than we m a y t h i n k . Because if it's very easy to dismiss them as superficial nonsense, sometimes they d o h o l d a g r a i n o f t r u t h , under all that silly fluff. I don't think there is any- t h i n g i n m y c o u n t r y a s stereotyped as the apparent- ly conflictual relationship between North and South, and between Northerners and Southerners: the North i s b e t t e r o r g a n i z e d , t h e South more approximate; the North has no good food and the South has all the good stuff. Northerners are boring and obsessed with work, Southerners love fun b u t t h e y a r e l a z i e r . T h e North is modern and Euro- pean, but the South has all the cool cultural stuff. See, in one simple para- graph, I condensed some of the most common miscon- ceptions and stereotypical views even we Italians have about ourselves. Yes, our- selves, because let's make one thing clear before I even start with the fun stuff: we are one people and there i s n ' t a n y d o u b t a b o u t i t . Look at it this way: it's like w i t h f a m i l y . T h e r e a r e a l w a y s d i f f e r e n c e s , b u t blood isn't water. In any case, let's take a closer look at some of our "differences" and find out if they are real or not… We could begin, in fact, with something we all celebrate t h i s m o n t h , C h r i s t m a s . Now, legends say that in the North, Christmas is the 25th and then it's all back to nor- mal, while in the South peo- ple make a much bigger deal of it, indulging in gargantu- an meals and family convivi- ality from the 24th to the 26th and, while they are at it, throwing in also a snack or even a dinner to finish off leftovers on the 27th. Well, that's not entirely true. Yes: in the South, the evening of the 24th is already a family food bonanza, and that's not quite the same in the North where, however, it is pretty c o m m o n t o g o o u t t o e a t with friends, especially if m i d n i g h t m a s s i s o n t h e books. Pizza first, worship later. But when it comes to Christmas day, St Stephen's day and even the days after that, I can guarantee there is very little difference. First of all, one must honor every s i d e o f t h e f a m i l y : s o i t ' s Christmas lunch at grand- ma's and Christmas dinner at your brother's. Then, on the 26th, it may be your turn to host. Then, there is the whole "Southerners are loud- e r " t h i n g . A s a N o r t h e r n Italian who lived abroad for a good chunk of her life, I came to a conclusion, mostly based on direct evidence: being loud isn't about where you were born, it's genetic. B o t h N o r t h e r n e r s a n d Southerners know well when to keep it down and how to talk as gently and elegantly as a member of the British royal family. But if we gather and we are more than three, then we lose volume control, especially when we speak about food. Turin, Naples, Ferrara, Bari, Firenze, Paler- mo: it doesn't matter where we come from, if you put us together, we get loud. To be fair, it may be a Mediter- r a n e a n t h i n g , b e c a u s e Spaniards are often accused of the same behavior: in fact, volume tends to reach glass- breaking levels if you put I t a l i a n s a n d S p a n i a r d s together on a night out. I know it well because I had l o a d s o f S p a n i s h f r i e n d s when I lived abroad. One of the most offensive stereotypes about our South, one that is often perpetrated in small talks and even by some of our politicians, is that people south of Rome don't like working, or, to say it with an Italian expres- sion, they are furbetti, or cunning when it comes to doing as little as possible. This is just, quite simply, not t r u e a n d f i r s t - g e n e r a t i o n Italian migrants to the US - your very own grandparents and great-grandparents - bear witness to it: how hard d i d t h e y w o r k t o a c h i e v e what they did in their new h o m e ? E x a c t l y . A n d t h e same can be said of those who remained in Italy: some of the North's most impor- tant industries, including the textile in Lombardia and V e n e t o a n d , n o t a b l y , t h e automotive in Piemonte and Lombardia, became what they are today during the s e c o n d p o s t - w a r p e r i o d largely thanks to the south- ern workforce. And today is t h e s a m e . T h e r e a r e j u s t p e o p l e w i t h g o o d w o r k ethics and people with no work ethics: full stop. But t h a t d o e s n ' t d e p e n d o n where they were born. T h e t r u t h i s t h a t t h e S o u t h d o e s h a v e a m a j o r u n e m p l o y m e n t p r o b l e m , which is not the result of people not wanting to work, but rather, of decades and decades of bad investments and governmental policies. But that's a story for another time. And what about the idea that Southerners are better f u n t h a n N o r t h e r n e r s ? Well…perhaps there is a tiny bit of truth in that. I am a Northerner in her early for- ties and I must admit that, if I w a n t t o h a v e a p r o p e r night out, it's my Sicilian friends I call. People from the South have a lightheart- edness many of us North- erners lose once we settle down. And it's a pity because it's not written anywhere that when you "grow up" you can't, every once in a while, let go a little and pretend you have no worries in the world. So, are we really that dif- ferent, we Italians from the North and the South? I don't think so. Some of us are like siblings, others like distant cousins but, in the end, we a l l c o m e f r o m t h e s a m e l a r g e , n o i s y , b i g - h e a r t e d family. North and South: are we really that different? FRANCESCA BEZZONE Relax outside a Trullo, in Apulia. Trulli are one of the symbols of the Italian South (Photo: Joaquin Corbalan/Dreamstime) ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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