Of "melons full of fire" and much more .........

Rome, 2007

Now we all know that Metternich comment that "Italy' is a geographical expression” which he said more than once to different statesman, but it was also echoed by the Italian, Cesar Balbo.

 Balbo supported Risorgimento and observed that Italy was “a multiracial community composed of successive waves of immigrants; [with] one of the most mixed bloodlines, one of the most eclectic civilization and cultures there has ever been.”**

All of which makes perfect sense, given that Italy is divided geographically between east and west and economically by north and south.

This may come as surprise to those brought up with stories of Roman history and the notion of a unified empire stretching from the wet wasteland of Hadrian’s Wall to the hot desert of Judea, and the dark forests of northern Germany down to the sands of North Africa.

Florence, 2010

But back then the Empire was a diffuse place of peoples, and languages, as well as religions and economies.

Go back to the time before Caesar crossed the Rubicon or forward to the centuries starting with the fall of the western Empire and you have that patchwork where the inhabitants of what we now call Italy spoke differently and never thought of themselves as Italian.

As someone with an Italian family I can testify that it is still there today.
Simone and Rosa left Naples in 1960, first for Cambridge and then a decade or so later back to Italy and that powerhouse of industry and wealth which is the north.

They settled in Varese which is an hour or so from Milan.  Simone and Rosa went to work in local factories, and while they spoke standard Italian outside the home, at the end of the day, they reverted to Neapolitan.

The Trevi Fountain, Rome, 2007

The children grew up with both, but were keenly aware of their southern heritage, made all the more obvious by the way they were singled out at school for being from the south and the family nicknames which were all Neapolitan.

My favourite was one of the uncles who was simply called “melons full of fire” which pretty much sums him up.

That north south divide is there in the politics of the country with some members of the Northern League advocating separation from the south and some even arguing for the deportation of southerners.

And it is reflected in films like Benvenuti al Sud, which translates as Welcome to the South, and follows the hapless adventures of a postman from Lombardy who discovers his hoped for transfer to Milan has been postponed and instead he has to move to  a provincial village near Naples.**

It is a play on the misconceptions northerners have for the south, is very funny, and carried more than a few truths.

None of this, as I say surprises me, but part of my post hospital reading has been the Pursuit of Italy by David Gilmour which according to the notes on the back is “an acclaimed and captivating history of Italy, from Virgil to Verdi and onto today” and “shows that Italy’s glory comes not from a unifies national identity but from its regions, with their distinctive art, cuisine civic cultures and traditions”.**

And while it is scholarly and thoughtful it is also witty and easy to read which makes it a good read for long days in front of the fire with just the occasional twinge.

One to read.

Location; Italy

Pictures; Rome, 2007 and Florence, 2010, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*"The word 'Italy' is a geographical expression, a description which is useful shorthand, but has none of the political significance the efforts of the revolutionary ideologues try to put on it, and which is full of dangers for the very existence of the states which make up the peninsula." In a letter to Austrian ambassador to France of April 1847

**quoted by David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy, 2011, page 26

*** Benvenuti al Sud, 2010