Literary Italy

Today we laugh far too much about Death in Venice, a not-at-all-funny novella by our first non-Italian author, Thomas Mann. But seriously, is there something about illness and decadence that drives creativity?

Anne and Jim take another break from hitting the books, this week talking about traveling with kids in the Bel Paese.

We're a little out of our comfort zone, reading Natalia Ginzburg's essay "Winter in the Abruzzi," in which she recalls, bittersweetly, her family's exile in the Abruzzo during the Fascist regime. Abruzzo is a region we've never seen (but high on our list of places to visit); it has served as a literary setting in other works (think Hemingway among American authors). You can read a translation of the essay here.

This week we head south to Lucania, the region of Italy now known as Basilicata, as we discuss Carlo Levi's memoir, Christ Stopped at Eboli,  shedding light on the poverty and isolation of the area. We talk about one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Matera, which has gone from being the "Disgrace of Italy" to Italy's "2019 Capital of Culture." Crowded cave dwellings are now fancy hotels and restaurants, and cultural and art museums abound. But after over 9,000 years, the soul of this city remains: magical, earthy, real. 

What is competition? This week’s short comic story by Alberto Moravia asks just that question as a pushcart vendor first falls for his competition, then is destroyed by her--or does he really destroy himself?  We also talk about the neighborhood in which the story is set, the picturesque quarter of Trastevere, and the walking bridges that connect it to the historic center on the eastern side of the Tiber and the lovely Via Giulia. For more on Moravia, check out the museum dedicated to him in Rome. The Museum of Rome in Trastevere offers exhibitions on the history and culture of this endlessly fascinating city.  More on Trastevere from Lonely Planet. "The Competition" ("La concorrenza"), the short story we discuss in this episode, was originally published in Moravia's Racconti Romani (Roman Tales), but can also be found in a facing page collection by Dover books, along with eleven other short stories by Italian writers from medieval to modern times.

Welcome to a little parlor game we call either "The Oldlywed Game," or "I Vecchi Sposi." Anne and Jim try to predict each other's responses to questions about Italy. We promised not to hit each other with large placards with our answers written on them, and by and large we succeeded. Apologies to Bob Eubanks. 

Lemons and sunshine! What's not to love? Today we're talking about poet and Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale and his "happy place," the gorgeous coastline of Liguria, tucked up in the northwest corner of Italy, bordering the French Riviera.

In one of his early poems, I Limoni (The Lemon Trees), Montale describes the lemon trees in Monterosso al Mare, a small town on the Ligurian Coast where he spent his childhood summers. These lemons offer a glimpse of what is real and what is true, through the brightness and beauty of nature, a brightness and a beauty that can persist even through the cold and dreary winter days. And speaking of the beauty of nature, we talk about the Cinque Terre, the five small fishing towns of which Montale's Monterosso is the largest, that have become incredibly popular in recent years among tourists because of their accessibility by train and boat, colorful houses, wonderful seafood and white wine, and rocky beaches. To better enjoy the towns, consider staying a few nights, and also walking the famous trails nearby, the most famous of which connects the five villages one to the other, and which, until the train came through, was the only way villagers were able to visit each other other than by boat. Other nearby options might be Rapallo, Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure, Portovenere, Lerici, and Tellaro may be slightly less-crowded options to actually staying in the Cinque Terre (although the secret is out about them as well!).

And finally we reminisce about our one and only cruise (we both got violently seasick) and introduce our upcoming episode: "The Oldly-wed Game", where we ask each other questions about Italy and try and guess what the other will answer. As a teaser we find out that after nearly 25 years of marriage neither one of us has any idea what kind of ice cream the other likes! (And I suspect I only said lemon because I was still thinking of Montale...)

The LemonTrees
Eugenio Montale (Trans. Anne Schuchman)

Listen to me, the poet laureates
move only among fauna
with obscure-sounding names: boxwoods, privet, or acanthus.
For my part, I love the roads that end in grassy
ditches where in half-dry puddles
boys grab at
a few haggard eels:
the paths that follow along the shoreline,
then move down between the tufts of reeds
and into the gardens, among the lemon trees.

Better still, if the riotous songs of the birds
are silenced, swallowed up by the blue:
you can hear more clearly the whisper
of friendly branches in the air that just barely moves,
and the intensity of this scent
that cannot be separated from the earth
and a restless sweetness rains in the heart.
Here the war of conflicted passions
by some miracle falls silent,
here even the poor, we have our share of riches—
and it is the smell of the lemon trees...

(Read the rest of the poem here) 

Back to the medieval! We talk about Saint Francis of Assisi and his Canticle of the Creatures, one of the first examples of written Italian. Anne once fantasized about a sitcom based on his life called Everybody Loves Francis! (Mostly just for the title.) And then take a trip to his hometown of Assisi in Umbria: how to get around, what to see, where to stay, and (as always!) what to eat! Pax et bonum! Pace e bene! Peace and Goodness!

Patron saint of animals and ecology as well as the country of Italy (along with Catherine of Siena), Francis did quite a bit of traveling, preaching as he went. Yet he always came back to his hometown of Assisi. Well worth a visit today not only for its connection to its famous native son, Assisi is a marvelous example of a medieval Italian hilltop town. Francis is buried in the lower basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, where you can also admire the frescoes attributed to Giotto in the upper church that depict Francis's life and miracles. Also in the historic center of Assisi you can visit the Basilica of Santa Chiara, which contains the saint's crypt as well as the crucifix, which, according to the legend, first called Francis to "repair my church."

As we mention in the episode, Francis died in the lower part of the town of Assisi, in this church of the Porziuncola, today enclosed by the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. We also talked about hiking up to the Eremo delle Carceri, a lovely place in the woods where Francis and his followers would retreat for solitude and prayer.

And we also talked a lot about eating! A great place to eat (and stay) about a kilometer outside of the city walls is the Ristorante La Stalla at Fontemaggio, which, as the name suggests, is housed in a converted stall. You can try local favorites like pasta or meats cooked over an indoor enormous grill. Fontemaggio also has a hotel, hostel and campground.

We read aloud and talk more in-depth about Francis's prayer, The Canticle of Brother Son (or Cantle of the Creatures). You can read the original and an English translation here.

See Naples and...LIVE! On this week's episode we talk about My Brilliant Friend, the first in a four-novel series by pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante. The books trace the friendship of two girls, Lila and Lenù, growing up in post-war Naples. We talk about genius and learning, monsters and mobsters, and the city of Naples itself, both as a character in the book as well as a destination. What to see, where to go...and what to eat!

Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, a four-volume series beginning with My Brilliant Friend, relate the long and complicated friendship between two girls, Lenù and Lila, from their childhood in the slums to old age, when Lila suddenly and mysteriously disappears. The books have become nothing short of a phenomenon, international bestsellers and an HBO miniseries. Some of the fascination no doubt is with Elena Ferrante herself, pen name of an unknown author, but certainly another source of the interest lies in the city of Naples itself, and its fundamental role in all four novels. This is not the Naples of cruise ships and Capri, this is a harsh and often ugly Naples, a city of squalor and violence.

Lenù, narrator of My Brilliant Friend, reports that she left Naples definitely in 1995, just as the city was experiencing a renewal because she “no longer believed in its resurrections.” However Naples today is a surprising mix of ancient artifacts, vibrant street life, and amazing food, all with glorious views of Vesuvius and the sea. My Brilliant Friend tours have sprung up around the city, offering glimpses of Naples beyond the tourist center. And the island of Ischia, a pivotal plot location, can be reached by ferry in about an hour. While you are reading the books and watching the miniseries, start planning your next trip to Naples. Be prepared to be surprised.

We take a break from books this week to talk a little bit about how we think about travel to Italy and what works for us. Your mileage may vary.