L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano ative dropping in for a brief hello to an active participant in the town's daily social life, complete with its warm hos- pitality and inevitable fric- tion. "When I first started going there, I had cousins all over the place," Glionna recalls. "I made friends, too. I became good friends with the vice mayor, the mayor, and oth- ers. I started to get incorpo- rated, because I now had a whole life outside my rela- tives." Yet, living in a close com- m u n i t y c o m e s w i t h h i g h demands for social mainte- nance. Unlike American cul- ture, where distance or busy schedules are forgiven, rela- tionships in Southern Italy require constant care. "You need to nurture relationships with Italian friends and rela- tives like plants," Glionna observes. "You need to water them to make sure they get enough sun, because if they feel that you've given up on them, they will make a deci- reached out for so long. I joke that, in Pomarico, some peo- ple are buried with two cas- kets: one for their body, and t h e o t h e r o n e f o r t h e i r g r u d g e s . " F a c e d w i t h a boundary drawn by one side of the family, Glionna focused entirely on Pomarico. The result is an intimate portrait o f a s i n g l e p l a c e a n d t h e h u m a n c o n n e c t i o n s t h a t define it. The book does not follow a s t r i c t p l o t l i n e . I t m o v e s through a series of unexpect- e d , y e t i n d e p e n d e n t moments: "You can almost open the book and read a c h a p t e r i n d e p e n d e n t l y , " G l i o n n a n o t e s . T h i s i s because the narrative struc- t u r e m i r r o r s h i s j o u r n e y : rather than offering a chrono- logical diary, the chapters focus on different themes and local characters, from women of the town and local politi- cians to extended cousins and friends made along the way. Over time, Glionna transi- tioned from an American rel- sion, and then you are dead to them. In America, if you disagree, you take a 'friend- ship timeout.' In Italy, friend- s h i p t i m e o u t s c a n l a s t decades." Throughout his search for details of his grandfather's early life, Glionna found him- s e l f r e - e n g a g i n g w i t h t h e memory of his own father, who passed away in 2014. "I don't think I'm spoiling the ending," Glionna says. "I go t o I t a l y i n s e a r c h o f m y grandfather, and I find my father instead." As Glionna navigated the town, writing about the local characters and wrestling with his own place within the culture, he found himself wishing he could pick up the phone and share the experience with his dad. "I t h i n k m y d a d w o u l d h a v e been very proud," Glionna r e f l e c t s . " A l t h o u g h h e would've questioned me a lot!" This realization gives the narrative a double layer. This writing is an exploration of heritage and a meditation on grief, memory, and how sons come to understand their fathers long after they are gone. In an era where "ancestry travel" has become a boom- ing industry, Glionna's expe- rience stands apart: "I didn't intend the book to be a 'how- to,'" Glionna emphasizes. "A lot of people go back to Euro- pean towns for a week. They do a little research, they meet s o m e o n e w h o t a k e s t h e m under their wing, they have a nice meal, and then they fly back. What I wanted to do was to come and hang around long enough that people real- ized, 'You're not just this guy here for a week.'" By staying long enough to absorb the rhythm of "tomorrow time," understand local politics, and face the difficulties of family dynamics, Glionna earned a deep perspective on what it means to belong. At its heart, Glionna's book is about evaluating where he, as an individual and an Ital- ian-American, stands today; toward the end of his journey, he took a DNA test to quanti- fy his heritage, but the true a n s w e r h a d a l r e a d y b e e n f o r g e d i n t h e s t r e e t s o f Pomarico. heritage through values, atti- tudes toward family, loyalty, and pride, rather than lan- guage. S t a r t i n g i n t h e 1 9 8 0 s , Glionna made trips to Italy, attempting to navigate family visits with little more than a pocket dictionary and lots of curiosity. After marrying and turning his focus toward East Asia, he didn't return for 25 years. By the time he decided to go back to Pomarico for a s u m m e r s t a y , r e n t i n g a n apartment to experience day- to-day life, the gap had left marks. "Originally, I wanted to separate my book between P o m a r i c o a n d P o m p e i i , " Glionna explains, noting that his paternal grandmother came from the Benevento province and he had family connections near Naples as well. When he reached out to a c o u s i n i n P o m p e i i , h e e n c o u n t e r e d a n I t a l i a n response to this long silence: the grudge. "He ghosted me. He was mad because I hadn't W h e n f o r - m e r L o s A n g e l e s T i m e s f o r e i g n c o r r e s p o n d e n t J o h n M . G l i o n n a s e t o u t t o w r i t e about Pomarico, a town of 3,500 people in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, he brought with him decades of journalistic experience. As an international reporter, Glion- na was accustomed to drop- ping into foreign lands across Asia and beyond, reading the room, gaining the trust of strangers, and capturing daily life before moving on to the next assignment. W h e n h e a r r i v e d i n P o m a r i c o t o r e s e a r c h h i s b o o k , M i d d a y S u n : A S e a r c h f o r R o o t s i n a S o u t h e r n I t a l i a n H i l l Town, the rules of engage- ment shifted entirely. For Glionna, returning to Pomari- co wasn't about observing locals and their lives but an attempt to learn about his own identity and bridge gen- erational gaps. "When I started writing books, I thought I could apply that same reporting to my own life," Glionna, now a San Francisco resident, reflects during a conversation about the origins of his book, pub- lished in April 2026 by Bor- dighera Press. Drawing inspi- ration from British author Tim Parks, whose writing details the nuances of living as an expat in Italy, Glionna recognized he had a unique advantage over other travel writers. "This place meant something to me. I didn't choose it because it was close t o s o m e w h e r e e l s e , o r because I'd heard good things about it. I did have a reason to be there." Glionna's grandfather died when John was 16, leaving behind no written record, no letters, no details about his trip across the Atlantic and the world he left behind. "He remains a mystery to me to this day," Glionna admits. Growing up in an American household where his father spoke English and little Ital- ian, Glionna absorbed his Journalist John M. Glionna uncovers his Italian roots in "In the Land of the Midday Sun" SERENA PERFETTO SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY John Glionna with Giovanni, one of the main personalities found in his book (Photo courtesy of John Glionna)

• Cover