L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 26 L iza Salvatore, founder and p r i n c i p a l o f t h e S a n t a Monica-based TerraBella Services, is able to serve both SoCal people, eager to immerse themselves in Italy's cuisine, art, h i s t o r y , c u l t u r e , a s w e l l a s t o w n s p e o p l e f r o m S . E l i a Fiumerapido – in the province of Frosinone, in the lower Lazio Region of Italy – in need of more job opportunities. She has also served as Vice President of the Santa Monica S i s t e r C i t y A s s o c i a t i o n (SMSCA), and was instrumental i n e x p a n d i n g a s u s t a i n a b l e tourism program, by establishing a virtuous twinning among her hometown S. Elia Fiumerapido, Cassino and Santa Monica. L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , L i z a Salvatore has been successfully championing Italian cuisine and Italy's produce, such as extra virgin olive oil. In fact, she holds an annual program, Olive Harvest, History, and Cuisine, that recreates the thousand-year old tradition of olive harvesting b y h a n d , w i t h o u t f o r g e t t i n g Italian traditional form of enter- t a i n m e n t , l i k e o p e r a a n d Neapolitan music in the middle of the olive grove. You were born in Italy, but you were raised in the U.S. What brought you and your family to Los Angeles? How was your acclimatization to the SoCal lifestyle?   I came to the U.S. with my p a r e n t s w h e n I w a s t e n . W e moved from my hometown S. Elia Fiumerapido, because dur- ing WWII it had been almost entirely destroyed, when the A l l i e s b o m b e d t h e n e a r b y famous Abbey of Montecassino, used by German artillery units as an observation post. We first moved to Detroit, MI, where there was a large Italian community hailing from my area, but found the weather too hot and humid in the sum- mer and too cold in the winter, s o w e m o v e d t o S o u t h e r n California, where my aunt was living. As a ten-year old child, I acclimated very quickly and was f l u e n t i n E n g l i s h w i t h i n s i x m o n t h s . I l o v e d S o u t h e r n California, with all its palm trees a s f a r a s t h e e y e c o u l d s e e . Besides, in 1960, it was not so congested and seemed like a paradise on earth to me. What was the Los Angeles' food landscape like, both in terms of products' and restau- rants' offer, when you and y o u r f a m i l y r e l o c a t e d t o S o u t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a , a s opposed to today? I don't recall what the restau- rants were like when we first moved to L.A., because I was still a child and we never ate out, but I do recall that it was much easier to find quality Italian Delis. Today, in Santa Monica, as far as Italian products, there is o n l y B a y C i t i e s a n d G u i d i Marcello Ltd., which is loved by foodies. Both of these are very successful and if more Italian Delis were to open, I'm sure they would be very successful as well, because Californians love all things Italian. Let's talk now about your company, TerraBella Services. What makes it unique? TerraBella Services is a bou- tique company that organizes about eight cultural immersive programs a year. It focuses on t h e a r e a b e t w e e n R o m e a n d Ravello/Amalfi Coast, and the programs last generally a week, although the language immer- sion classes last two weeks. I keep the prices extremely low, because my motive is helping Sant' Elia create more jobs. I put the participants up in a charming relais hotel in Sant' Elia. I encourage the group lead- er to find the other participants, which earns them a discount on their price and creates cohesive- ness since they all know each other. The program is low stress, because I arrange for the partici- pants to be picked up at FCO- Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome, and we are transported to all excursions in a Mercedes mini-van with driver from S. Elia. In the latter town, several times during the week we have o u r m e a l s i n r e s t a u r a n t s , i n which the ladies who cook and even the chefs are local. So, I can say that the area has benefit- e d g r e a t l y f r o m m y c u l t u r a l immersion tours. It is very gratifying to me that all the profit goes to help the town. I have sponsored a flower c o m p e t i t i o n t o b e a u t i f y t h e town, I give scholarships, and I teach English to the locals to get them more familiar with the lan- guage of the participants from the U.S. I even donated a beautiful "Welcome/Benvenuti" panel at the entrance of Sant' Elia in memory of my Father Giuseppe Antonio Salvatore, who trans- mitted his love for this town to me. You're VP for programs to Italy for the Santa Monica S i s t e r C i t y A s s o c i a t i o n (SMSCA) and you're in charge of establishing a sister city relationship between Santa M o n i c a , S a n t ' E l i a Fiumerapido (in the Province o f F r o s i n o n e , L a z i o ) a n d Cassino, Italy. Could you elab- orate?  VALERIO VIALE Liza Salvatore and her TerraBella Services for all things Italian aficionados LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY The Sister City program was an idea of President Dwight Eisenhower after WWII to cre- a t e b r i d g e s o f f r i e n d s h i p between cultures.  Since I have been living a dual culture life and can appreci- ate my Italian background as w e l l a s m y A m e r i c a n entrepreneurial mind set, I knew that the love affair that seemed to be going on between Southern California and Italy and vice versa, would be a good starting point for that cultural exchange and appreciation.  The interesting part of my creation of the Sister City pro- gram between Santa Monica and Sant' Elia-Cassino is that initial- ly the SMSCA wanted to do a s i s t e r c i t y w i t h a c i t y i n T u s c a n y , b e c a u s e m o s t A m e r i c a n s w a n t t o g o t o Tuscany, but my motivation was to bring a sustainable tourism program to Sant' Elia to help create jobs, so it was imperative that the sister city relationship w a s c r e a t e d w i t h m y h o m e - town. However, Santa Monica's population is about 91,000 and Sant' Elia is about 6,400, so they initially rejected my pro- posal. I, then, asked if I could pair off Cassino (40,000 inhabitants) and Sant' Elia, to create the sis- ter city. It was highly unusual, but after I took Santa Monica's leading citizens, members of prime clubs, such as Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, on a ten-day exploratory trip between Rome a n d R a v e l l o , t h e B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s o f t h e S M S C A approved it, on the condition that I would act as VP for pro- grams to Italy.  It was a huge success, with library presentations, soccer tournaments, and delegation exchanges. Recently, I stepped down from the SMSCA's Board of Directors, and travelled to Italy to oversee the building of the Salvatore Center for Culture in Sant' Elia Fiumerapido. Since 2015, the efforts to promote the message, "Buy Authentic Italian, Get More," launched by the Ministry of Economic Development and I C E – I t a l i a n T r a d e Commission, have exponential- ly increased. What's your take on the importance of Made in Italy products? Are US cus- tomers more aware of genuine Italian food or is there still confusion? As I discovered with my cul- tural immersion programs, Italy sells itself. Everyone loves Italy: its food and wine, its people, its history, its art, its music, its design and on and on. I am concerned however, that w i t h t h e E u r o p e a n U n i o n ' s rules, there could be a flattening- homogenization of the Italian culture in the way cheese and other products are made, as well a s t h e c o u n t e r f e i t i n g o f "Parmigiano Reggiano," Italian olive oil, prosciutto, etc. Italy always needs to ensure that those counterfeit products are tracked and stopped, before t h e y d e v a l u e t h e " a u t h e n t i c Italian" product. Last November, the first Italian Cuisine in the World W e e k : T h e E x t r a o r d i n a r y Italian Taste, with famed chefs turned Ambassadors of Italian food, was organized in several venues across Los Angeles. Did you take part to any of the events? What do you think of initiatives like that? If you would have the opportunity, how would you organize next Italian Cuisine in the World Week in L.A.? Unfortunately no, I didn't take part in it, because I usually spend the Fall in Italy, holding cooking classes, olive harvest, truffle hunts, porcini hunts, etc. At any rate, I think these initia- tives are great and I hope they are going to organize them on a regular basis. Italy's cuisine is a t r e a s u r e a n d c a n r e a l l y h e l p Italian economy. I don't have concrete sugges- tions, but I think these food fairs should always include cooking demonstrations, judging by the success of TV programs such as G i a d a d e L a u r e n t i s ' , M a r i o B a t a l i ' s , a n d L i d i a Bastianovich's. I d i d a c o o k i n g p r o g r a m myself on Santa Monica TV, that featured twenty minute recipes and people loved it. In conclusion, could you share with us your thoughts on the fact that 2018 is going to b e t h e y e a r d e d i c a t e d t o Italian food, as announced by Minister of Agricultural, Food a n d F o r e s t r y P o l i c i e s , M a u r i z i o M a r t i n a , a n d Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, Dario Franceschini? I am certain that it will be a great success. Americans love Italian food, and Italy must seize 2018 to reassert its culture and cuisine. I have found that the participants in my programs always love to hear the origin of the recipe, so my suggestion is: always be sure that the chef includes that in their presenta- tion. Liza Salvatore, founder and principal of the Santa Monica-based TerraBella Services

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