L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY T hree local Italians and two American travelers, the love for the same land, Salento, and a great passion for travel and culture. Salento by 5 is more than a book, is a collec- tion of woven stories, travel tips, drawings, and recipes by Audrey Fielding, Luciana Cacciatore, Carlo Longo, Lucia Erriquez, and David Fielding. For a number of years, five writers collected their stories, bound them together, and shared what they had each trip. At first, they thought they would exchange emails of their writ- ings but that didn't happen. It was only when they were face to face that they could read what they had, talk about what was missing, and make plans for writing more. After about ten years of collecting and some more trying to figure out how to organize what they had into a coherent book, they hit upon the idea of featuring each person, who would in turn share a differ- ent aspect of Salento based on their expertise. "We want to show people another way of liv- ing on the earth and why we return every year,"Audrey says. So, time was set aside for a writ- ing project and usually involved a delicious Italian meal cooked by Lucia. And Carlo suggested: "It should be a sort of a Canterbury Tales collection. We meet up in Salento and walk together. As we walk, we share aspects of our lives that matter to us." Audrey, when did you decide to collect all your mem- ories and experiences in a book? "I have a background in teaching reading and writing locally and internationally, working with both students and teachers. When I met Luciana in the airport in Rome and learned that she had trained to be an English teacher in Italy, I was interested in her background and how English was taught in Italy. We met again in Salento and she introduced my husband David and me to her high school English teacher, Carlo, whose wife Lucia taught high school English. Although our initial conversations were about the teaching of writing, somewhere along the way, we began to talk about our own writing." Audrey and David returned to Salento to know more family stories, songs, and history. Over Lucia's delicious meals, they decided that Carlo would write about the music of the area. Lucia loved to cook and had both stories and recipes to share. David had begun drawing small sketches of the area to add to his travel journal. Audrey had been writing about our Salento travel experiences to share with friends and family. You call the book "a Travel Memoir and Salento Love Fest." Why? We are each quite selective in what we choose to write about. The book is not a travel guide, although there are some travel recommendations. It's a love fest: in the process of returning to the same place year after year, we fell in love with the place and the people. Each visit showed us something new while our friend- ship with Luciana, Lucia, and Carlo developed and deepened. For example, take food. At first, we ate and wrote down the names of the various local dish- es. Then we started to ask ques- tions about the recipes. Where did they come from? What was so sacred about slices of hard, stale bread soaked in water and covered with tomatoes and oil? The stories of the land began as many stories do, around the din- ner table. What did impress you the most about Salento and its people? SERENA PERFETTO Salento by 5, a memoir of traditions, stories, history, and recipes from Italy's heel Salento in 2002 was not what I expected it to be. I was expect- ing poverty, harshness, and little development. It was softer, friendlier, more developed eco- nomically, and with a "we can take care of ourselves" attitude. Salento has its own history of poverty. As we drove through small villages and winding coun- try roads lined with stone walls, we could picture poor farmers struggling against an "earth vom- iting stones" as Luciana has writ- ten, in order to reveal enough soil to grow food. What did you like the most? Since our first visit, swim- ming in the Adriatic and the Ionian Seas is priceless. Otranto, where we rent the same apart- ment every year, has a bay that invites you to swim from one side to the other and back. Depending on the wind, that is a big factor in Salento, the water will be calm, churned up gently or ferociously, warm or cold. We find it inviting most days, clear to the bottom, also in other places like Castro, Santa Maria al Bagno, Santa Catarina, and Santa Maria di Leuca. Something you dislike? No place is perfect. Salento has too many smokers who leave their cigarette butts on the rocky shores and beaches. And trash pickup varies from village to vil- lage, highway to highway. We also worry about the lack of employment for young people. Often in conversations with young restaurant servers, we learn that they are university edu- cated to be teachers or lawyers, but with little chance of finding work in their home area. Over the years, many young people left Salento for work abroad. Why is Salento today a pop- ular vacation spot? Over the years, we met mostly Italian tourists and European tourists on holiday. The few Americans tend to stay only a day or two before rushing off to a new destination, missing the opportunity to appreciate and enjoy a slower paced life. Lately, we have seen more bike groups wending their way on the back roads through olive groves. The tourist industry is growing in the area with cooking and language schools. We hope the area will retain its cultural heritage: small towns and farms, open seacoast, simple but good food, music and friendly people. David can't stop drawing and painting the colors of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, particu- larly around Otranto, nor the limestone rock studded fields and muri a secco (dry stone walls). "Our trips to Italy over the past 12 years have really been the motivation for keeping the jour- nal. I find the Salento coast, countryside, and towns (includ- ing baroque Lecce) to be an incredible feast for the senses with endless subjects for drawing and water coloring," he said. "The drive along the Adriatic coast from Otranto south to Santa Maria di Leuca is every bit as remarkable as that along the famous Amalfi Coast in Campania - even more spectacu- lar because, in addition to the breathtaking cliffs, there are rock-strewn fields and stone walls that I can imagine have changed little in the past 2000 years. For now, in this part of Salento, the tourists are few and the traveler's sense of discovery is genuine." SALENTO BY 5 is now available on Amazon, in both paperback and kindle formats. More info at http://www.salento- by5.com/ Audrey and David during one of their trips to Salento

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