L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano KENNETH SCAMBRAY A fter three eventful days in Naples, we rented a car and drove over the moun- tain pass to the Amalfi Coast, the iconic site of southern affluence and prosperity. The Amalfi Coast is another of those iconic, ideal- ized images of the South too often portrayed in American magazines. After three days, we drove to Paestum, renowned for its Greek temples. Not to be missed, its temples rival any in Greece or Sicily. Its new muse- um is an education in Greek and Roman history. After our stop, we went fur- ther south to Maratea, another of the South's best kept secrets. On the street I spoke with a middle- aged resident and complimented her on the well-preserved state of her village, quiet even at mid- morning. She was quick to add that they are very careful to pre- serve its historic character, evi- dent in the careful remodeling of every building that lines its nar- row streets and those that sur- round its spacious central piazza. But Maratea's quaint beauty was not the exception. During our stay in Maratea we visited the village of Aieta in northern Calabria, a seldom-visited, beau- tiful mountain-top village of all but impossible inclines of narrow streets. The next day we visited Rivello, like Aieta, whose nar- row, steep streets allow only pedestrian traffic. One resident with a sense of humor placed a plaque with an inscription in the local dialect next to the front door. The plaque was entitled "Il paese palestra" and read in part, "Stu pàise è na palèstre!. Fà a ginnàsteghe sènze e'hàje a pagà." Carole and I were amused, but I don't think the elderly man that I passed on one of the long, steep staircases, judging from his remark, shared our feelings. A day later on our way to Potenza, we visited another of the South's beautiful mountain-top villages, Castelmezzano, which can only be entered on foot as well. These hill-top southern towns have been carefully maintained are remarkable for their beautiful settings. In our stop at Potenza, we dis- covered that it suffers from that modern commercial malaise that afflicts nearly all small-town commercial centers. As Potenza expanded into its new neighbor- hoods, leaving the old center behind, many of the storefronts along its main street are becom- ing vacant. However, though travel books will tell you other- wise, Potenza's central area has its charm. Unfortunately, the Duomo was closed for restora- tion. But I take such restoration work as a sign of the town's via- bility and the local and state gov- ernment's investment in the town and region. Not far from the Duomo I visited the immaculate- ly restored thirteenth-century Chiesa e Convento di San Francesco with its impressive fifteenth-century hand-carved doors. A day later, we made our way east to two towns off the tourist map, Tricarico and Grassano. Tricarico is the birthplace of poet and writer, Rocco Scotellaro (1923-1953), once mayor of Tricarico and author, among oth- ers, of Contadini del Sud (1954) and L'Uva Puttanella (1955). I would rank his poetry among the best I have read among twentieth century poets, Italian and American. However, during his young and very brief life, Scotellaro became more well- known as an advocate for the southern Italian peasant and working class. He wrote forceful- ly of their impoverishment and exploitation and was the first to bring their plight to the attention of a neglectful northern govern- ment. In precise, well-crafted poems, he captures the essence of life in Tricarico and its inhabi- tants' destitution: "It is a place where "women leave their houses / vendetta's leaders / at the town hall scream their want, / a crust of bread, a day's work, / shoes and roads and everything." Just as important, though it seems unrecognized by Italian scholars, Tricarico was also the home for more than a decade of a little-known American anthropol- ogist and writer, Ann Cornelisen (1926-2003). She was a graduate of Vassar and traveled to Italy in the early 1950s when by happen- stance she was hired by a British foundation that funded and built schools in the impoverished South. The foundation sent her to Tricarico, where she lived for more than a decade. In her two books set in Tricarico, Torregreca (1969) and Women of the Shadows: Wives and Mothers of Southern Italy (1976), she wrote eloquently and insightfully of the impoverished conditions of the South's contadini, especially the plight and special condition of peasant women. Cornelisen learned quickly the village dialect and in her books was able to tell more intimately without misrep- resentation the heartrending cir- cumstances of the women of the South. Tricarico is the birthplace of poet and writer Rocco Scotellaro and was also the home, for more than a decade, of the American anthropologist and wri- ter, Ann Cornelisen. Tricarico. Photo by PasBel ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES Southern Italy's Diverse Heritage (part II) Mountain village Castelmezzano, Basilicata. Italy — Photo by Maugli

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