Sicilian Culture: News: Southern Italian Folkways in Europe & America

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Sicilian Culture

The People, The History, The Culture

The News & Views

Southern Italian Folkways in Europe & America
A Handbook for Social Workers, Visiting Nurses, School Teachers & Physicians
By Phyllis H. Williams
CHAPTER 1....THE HOMELAND
I Excerpt...
In the Italy from which our immigrants have come, two distinct peoples were closely associated in a relatively small area. There were in fact two Italys, one in the north and one in the south, each with its people thinking, behaving, and living differently. Their inhabitants frequently demonstrated so much antipathy toward those in the other section for it scarcely to seem possible that they belonged to the same nation. "The North Italian is Teutonic in blood and appearance, and belongs to the Alpine division of the white race in Europe. . . . The South Italian, who descends with less mixture from the ancient inhabitants of Italy, belongs to the Mediterranean branch."' Ideas and customs typical of Central Europe were found in North Italy. As for the south, an experienced French traveler commented at the beginning of the nineteenth century, "Europe ends at Naples, and It ends there badly enough. Calabria, Sicily, all the rest is African."... In the early twentieth century, as the traveler went south he still appeared to cross an invisible frontier into a new and strange land. This imaginary line ran roughly from Giulanova, just north of Pescara on the Adriatic, to Anzio in South Latium on the Tyrrhenian Sea.....
The climatic differences between southern and northern Italy influenced the economic life of the country particularly through rainfall peculiarities. South Italy has a relatively slight precipitation, and this lack of water, which varies locally and seasonally and over long periods of time, was reflected in the general customs as well as in the economic prac tices of the people....SICILY, ONCE SO FERTILE THAT IT WAS CALLED "THE GRANARY OF ROME",(RAA emphasis) now gets only half as much rain as New England during March, April, and September, months in which precipitation is most needed.
The fall on the east coast of the island, at Syracuse, has been as little as one inch during June, July, and August. The long-time tendency toward less rainfall in South Italy and Sicily has contributed heavily to deforestation and erosion. The lack of rain makes a poor growing season for trees, and this joins with the absence of coal to make the destruction of forests outrun replenishment. Land and lumber speculation, the rights that many communes (villages) had over forests, and to some extent excessive taxation, which forced proprietors to cut and sell their trees and then abandon the ground, all aided in the denudation. These factors plus the unrestricted pasturage of goats held natural as well as artificial reforestation in check. Efforts by the central government before the World War to unify and coordinate the forest laws of the various states came belatedly and met great local opposition. As a result, the scant rainfall was not held by forests or sod to the extent necessary, and streams became torrents for short periods and then dried up. Soil from the hills deposited in the valleys, choked their drainage, and formed swamps in which malaria mosquitoes bred. These accumulative ills, in addition to the deterioration of the seaport trade and other factors, aided decisively in the depopulation.
Metaponto, once rich and powerful, scarcely left even a name behind, and Siri, "reduced to a small village of a few hundred inhabitants," was "devastated by the two chief sores of South Italian agriculture: the Latifondo [a system of land ownership] and malaria." This acute problem of water shortage and its attendant ills afflicted chiefly four of the South Italian states: Campania, Apulia, Calabria, and above all Basilicata.
Little wonder then, in view of these facts, that the whole social system of South Italy was colored by this water scarcity.... (and), lays bare the chief root of many customs that seem strange and possibly almost offensive to Americans. The South Italian drank relatively little water, even at meal times. Piles of soiled underwear and sheets heaped in a corner or thrust into an old cupboard reflect the persistence of old-world customs rather than a slovenly attitude. In Italy, on the arrival of washday (once in three or four weeks), the women carried the accumulated articles to the nearest lake or river. There they spent the whole day together, working and gossiping over their affairs and those of their neighbors. A recreation indeed, compared with the lonely Monday session in America over a washtub or an electric machine! For hundreds of years, when no well or even spring was considered wholly free from question of pollution, wine was thought to be the only safe drink....
In view of these conditions, the existence in South Italy of varied vegetable gardens and groves of fine lemon, orange, fig, and other trees testified to the infinite care with which they were tended...
The heavier and more regular rainfall of North Italy, together with numerous rivers and lakes, make such valleys as that of the Po, Italy's largest river, a veritable Garden of Eden in contrast with the fields of the southern section. Despite these conditions favorable to agriculture, however, in-
dustrial activities explain the greater prosperity of North Italy. Coal was also absent in the north, but its place was filled by "white coal", water power, bountifully supplied by the numerous rivers and of recent years harnessed by power plants that have cost millions of lire. Life in the valleys and on the well-watered plains of the north approximated that of the more prosperous and highly civilized peoples of Central Europe.
Historical events have had as notable a share as geographical conditions in determining the trend of civilization in Italy. While events in its history exerted a favorable influence generally in the north, in the south they usually became additional obstacles. In early times, Italy and especially South Italy was the scene of repeated invasions by one foreign power after another. Civilization was replaced by civilization, "if indeed they were all worthy of this name," comments Giuseppe Pitre bitterly.
These influxes of foreigners produced in the native population an overpowering sense of antagonism and suspicion of ruling powers.
Foreign exploitation joined with climate and malaria in ravaging the, "between 300 B.C. and 100 A.D. . . .one of the richest and most propserous portions of the country as well as a center of culture.
Greeks, Saracens, and Normans all ruled at different periods in the south and all left their marks upon language, customs, and beliefs... Still more were deeply engraved in their minds, as mental habits governing their daily thought processes...
History dealt differently with the north. Although this section was by no means free from the invasions of foreigners or their depredations, such city states as Florence, Bologna, and Milan were too strong and prosperous to serve merely as fields for exploitation. Those who came, came to stay. Though primarily invaders, they gradually became absorbed into the population and contributed constructively on the whole to the development of the district. The north was always in a more fluctuating state than the south, more acculturated to the customs of Central Europe and far less antagonistic than the south to innovations. It welcomed the unification of Italy in 1870 without reservation. From its political viewpoint, this act meant new strength, whereas to South Italy and especially to Sicily it was to bring little advantage.
The peculiar historical and geographical backgrounds of South Italy and their contrast with those of the north have given southern cultural patterns certain definite characteristics. The south, for one thing, exemplified its popular tradition of no cooperation with the government in its moral code of omerta (manliness). This group of practices and theories "demands firmness, energy, and seriousness, a self-reliant and self-conscious mind whose activities are as far as possible independent of the civil authorities."" Forces opposing civil authority thus received the support of these people with little regard for their broader implications. The code was a reflection of the people's in-group solidarity with its concomitant suspicion of strangers and of those placed over them. Their suspiciousness, however, did not stop here. It was even manifested in a lesser degree toward fellow townsmen and members of the same family... The conditions that characterized the mental habits of South Italians with suspiciousness also gave them a more overt adaptation to such problems-a sign language...
Fatalism was another well-defined cultural characteristic that colored the ideas of these people.... (attributed)... to the influence of the close contact with Turks and Saracens...with a similar inclination to procrastinate and a reluctance to face definite issues, a resignation which accepts disappointment with the unprotesting word paziensa (patience).
Together with this fatalistic view of life and its apparently related slowness and casualness of pace, one readily sensed a steady plodding persistence born of the small incentives and scant opportunities of this land.
Its environmental, historical, and cultural characteristics made South Italy the home of all that an American would call unhealthy in political life. To many a southerner, "the commune is everything and the State is very little; the commune and its doings and its struggles make a big part of his life, while the far-off Government at Rome vanishes to a speck."
"The disqualification of illiteracy disfranchises a very large number, especially in the South and parts of the Centre." Political neglect of the south has been traditional... And yet, this state - in common with others in this impoverished section of Italy had to bear a burden of taxation proportional to the more prosperous political units. The communes, in turn, "have copied the state only too faithfully in throwing the burden of taxation on the poor." The recourse from such abuses was far from easy. "The people may rebel, but they are powerless to effect a change because of the corrupt political system, both the local and the governmental." The commune officials realized that they must keep the anger of the populace in check, and they therefore spent large sums on feast-day celebrations...
The commune or village both formed the social center and circumscribed the social horizon of most South Italians. Depending mainly on its own resources for economic support and restricting marriage largely to members of its own group, it was almost a complete entity in itself. The moun tain chains of South Italy contributed to this isolation into small units, whether the settlements were located in narrow valleys, on hilltops, or by the seashore. The term campanilismo, meaning that which is within sound of the village bell, was the apt label given by the natives to this regionalism.
No cultural trait reflected more clearly the campanilismo of Italy than the array of dialects found throughout the kingdom. Each state had its own dialect, and each section of a state had local variations. Educated people knew and spoke Italian and in addition among themselves used the dialect peculiar to their native section.... This product of geographic isolation and other differences thus acted as a powerful hindrance to homogeneity among
the inhabitants of a state and of the various states. (A "campanilsmo" avers)... The Italian language is for us a foreign language, a dead language, a language whose vocabulary and grammar have grown complex without remaining in touch with us, our way of living, our way of acting, our way of thinking, or our way of expressing ourselves.... It is true that to express oneself well in any language, one must first learn to think in it, then the trouble that we have in speaking this Italian clearly must mean that we do not know how to think in it, and that this Italian culture is a foreign one to us.
The campanilismo of Italy is particularly apparent among immigrants in their exclusive use of the word paesano (a person from the same district or town as the speaker), to indicate an old-world bond.
In view of these strong regional differences, the groupings of Italian political divisions made by the Central Institute of Statistics of Italy, by the United States Department of Labor, and by the Italo-Americans studied, given herewith, contain striking divergences. The Institute or Italian census arrangement indicates some understanding of the various factors discussed above. The classification made by the Department of Labor, on the other hand, is an arbitrary one based on whether a state is north or south of the River Po....
The popular notions of Italian regionalism gained from interviews with immigrants, are the most workable ones to use.
From these evidences of regional differences, one appreciates how an immigrant arriving in this country may be and frequently has been associated with a district having a culture almost as foreign to him as that of the old-stock Americans themselves. Such divisions as Lombardy, Tuscany, and Apulia mean little to Americans other than Immigrant.... the "man in the street" has accumulated some definite ideas regarding the contrast between the South Italian and the North Italian.... "I have often asked myself," one writer asserts, in illustration, " 'What is the Italian's most dominant characteristic?' " After "mature reflection," he concludes that "it is that he believes what he wants to believe and that he does not trust any one implicitly," that he "trusts his own fellow citizen least of all." Suspiciousness is mentioned above in relation to southern mores.
Wishful thinking, however, can scarcely be called a peculiarity of any given group of human beings.
Italian folk sayings derogatory of other districts furnish a sharp contrast to the American's lumping together of all Italians....their currency intensifies the contrast between the American's notion of the Italian and the Italian's identification of himself with the culture of a specific state and especially of a single village or commune. Oblivious to these differences, the American frequently characterizes the Italian as "a dirty, undersized individual, who engages in degrading labor shunned by Americans, and who is often a member of the Mafia, and as such likely at any moment to draw & knife and stab you in the back."
This contrast is quite explainable in terms of the reasons for the Italian's presence in our country. America wanted cheap unskilled labor. The Italian and other immigrants filled this demand. Here the matter usually ended so far as purchasers of labor were concerned. "If the immigrant were a horse instead of a human being, America would be more careful of him; if it loses a horse it feels it loses something, if it loses an immigrant it feels it loses nothing."... Let us also look at the Italian's reasons for coming to this country-factors closely related to the character of the states and communes from which he emigrated.
Numerous forces precipitated the vast migration from Italy to the United States. This mass movement is termed by one writer~ "well-nigh expulsion." Before 1900, "only the more progressive regions, with a numerous population, had large rates of emigration." In other districts, especially the south, Sicily, and Sardinia, "the motives making for a smaller emigration rate were the traditional love of country and home, the fear of a new life, the conditions of moral and political inferiority in which the old separatist regimes had kept the people, the greater stability of populations unused to the intensive labor developed in the north, and less urgent economic necessity of a life almost exclusively agricultural and patriarchal."
The greatest emigration increases in this century (see table), on the whole, came .then in the regions prevailingly agricultural and with a relatively sparse population. A student of the subject concludes from this that emigration did not result from overpopulation. She finds no relation between emigration and density. She leaves out of consideration, however, the full import of that weighty factor in the man-land ratio, the productivity of the land at a given stage of the arts.
Extreme poverty functioned as the strongest cause of emigration. In the south, opportunities for the aggressive practically did not exist. An Italian, to illustrate, asked some of his countrymen working in Switzerland if they loved their native land. "They answered me, smiling, as if I had spoken of some stranger, 'Italy is for us whoever gives us our bread. " The following characteristic statement by a Campanian is added for comparison.
"For me, America has proved itself and promises to continue to itself the land of opportunity, but I have not forgotten Italy-it is foolish to tell any Italian to forget Italy. I say Italy; but for for the others, Italy is the little village where I was raised."
AVERAGE EMIGRATION FROM ITALIAN STATES PER 10,000 INHABITANTS*
1876-1886 1887-1900 1901-1909 Total (RAA)
Piedmont 96 85 162 343
Liguria 59 43 60 162
Lombardy 53 53 113 219
Venetia 134 324 298 756
Emilia 23 50 133 206
Tuscany 40 57 117 214
Marches 10 42 204 256
Umbria 0.5 10 144 154
Latium (Rome) 0.5 10 98 108
Abruzzi & Molise 31 102 337 470
Campania 34 96 222 352
Apulia 3.9 17 104 125
Basilicata (Lucania) 108 184 305 597
Calabria 44 115 308 467
Sicily 7 44 210 261
Sardinia 1.5 7 62 71
All Italy 47 87 179 313
[RAA Comment: The high rate of Emigration from Basilicata, Calabria, Abruzzi & Molise, Campania (all over 350) was what I expected, but the lower rate from Sicily (260), and Pulia (125), and the staggering rate from Venetia (756) was a suprise, as was higher than expected from the "Northern" Regions of Piedmont (343), Marches (256), Lombardy (219), Tuscany (214), and Emilia (206), etc.
This chart does not account even for the high "Northern" Emigration prior to 1875, starting around 1840, or emigration after 1910 to 1920 when USA Immigration "Reform" was instituted favoring Northern Europeans.]
The people who came in such numbers and so recently from South Italy were for the most part peasants, fishermen, and unskilled laborers. They knew nothing of big-city life. They settled down-as most of them did in the east-in large industrial towns, they presented more serious problems of adaptation than as if they had been steered into occupational districts more comparable with those they had left. To facilitate their assimilation into urban society, they frequently tried to conceal their peasant origin and to create the illusion that they came from a city in Italy, a device also common (and for similar reasons) among American migrants from a "hick" village to New York or Chicago. Their port of departure, Naples (la grande citta), usually served the purpose...
Generally speaking, few Italians wish to return to Italy to live. Although this may not have been their original intention, immigrants usually stay. Despite early plans to save enough money to return to live in comfort in their old homes children and the World War and other complications even made the prospects seem less alluring. "To visit Italy for a month or two, yes," commented a woman, "but not to stay They always fight there; every ten years there is war. The man he goes to fight and the woman she work like the jackass." So they stay,... As relatives and friends in Italy die out, their longings to return to live grow less.
The situation of the woman who longed for Naples and that of the one who could only remember the incessant toil and constant threat of war represent a striking disparity that has chiefly an economic basis. The former came from the so-called leisure class. Though she had a comparatively low standard of living in Italy as compared with what she enjoys in America, she longed for the security of her homeland, as sured her by class prestige and other economic and social relationships. In America, her economic status was lower than that of many of her peasant compatriots among whom she lived and whose proximity and relative prosperity caused her to lose that sense of class superiority which was one of the few values in her life. The latter woman, a peasant, had gained in both prestige and security.
When social workers have acquired a fair knowledge of the differences that regional backgrounds make in Italian immigrants, their ability to approach individuals and family groups acceptably is greatly enhanced....

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