THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE PROGRAM IN PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY
As new residents of Lake Ridge, VA in Prince William County (PWC), Edvige and I recently learned that the teaching of Italian has been quite successful in the PWC Public Schools. Italian was introduced in the 2004-2005 school year in Hylton High School. Since that time three additional high schools and a middle school are offering Italian. The current enrollment is 1,213 students, of which 1,005 are in high school.
Hylton has five students planning to take the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Italian exam. Increasing the number of students taking this exam is a key objective of the Embassy of Italian in promoting Italian in high schools in the United States. Edvige and I had the pleasure to meet with Carol Bass, World Language Supervisor of the PWC school system to learn more about the success Italian has achieved in PWC. We were told that, in a survey on preferred foreign languages conducted in 2012, covering 15,000 students, Spanish was first and Italian second!
Ms. Bass noted that the success of Italian is due to: 1) the passion and quality of teachers; 2) general fascination and interest in Italian culture; and 3) administrative interest and support. Edvige and I were invited to serve as volunteers at Hylton to practice Italian with students planning to take the AP exam. In a conversation with Claudia Deferre, we learned that the PWC school system is linked to the Embassy of Italy through the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, and not the Embassy in Washington, DC.
To help sustain the Italian language program, the Consulate provides grants to the PWC school system. Edvige and I asked Ms. Bass if there were additional needs that would help to further sustain the language program. Ms. Bass noted that there is a need for English/Italian dictionaries. Funds for these are not provided by the PWC school system. Society members may recall that the Mantua Elementary Italian language program was able to secure funds for the 9 purchase of dictionaries from The Lido Civic Club of Washington, DC. We told Ms. Bass that we would explore with Italian American organizations in the Washington, DC area, financial contributions to help the school system with the purchase of dictionaries.
MORE ADVENTURES IN PUGLIA
October is a wonderful time to visit Puglia, a truly beautiful region - the “heel of the boot” with the Adriatic Sea on the eastern side and the Ionian Sea on the western side. So in October 2013, I went to Puglia for the first time, with a group of mostly National Italian American Foundation members (mostly from New York and New Jersey) and OSIA Fairfax, VA Lodge officer Joe La Marca and his wife June. In the January 2014 Notiziario, I wrote about our stay in Lecce and Bari. Lecce is a wonderful city full of beautiful palaces, churches and elegant stores, with an ancient Roman amphitheater right in the middle of the downtown area. Bari, the capital of Puglia, is truly “a city with a soul.”
There are street bands and musicians, and in Bari Vecchia (the old quarter), you can find women making pasta on tables outdoors and men playing cards. And across town, you can find top designer stores along wide avenues lined with palm trees, a beautiful waterfront area, and a Swabian castle that is lit up at nighttime. During our stay in Puglia, we went on several day trips. Our first day trip was to Otranto. This beautiful town on the Adriatic is the easternmost point of Italy, and on a clear day you can see Albania about 95 kilometers away. On New Year’s Day, there is a big celebration of the first sunrise in Italy.
Otranto has a very interesting history. It was under attack by the Turks (the Ottoman Empire) for 200 years beginning in the 15th century, so the area is full of watchtowers and many symbols of a dolphin biting a crescent moon (symbolizing defeat of the Muslims). The people of Otranto held out for 15 days during one large siege, giving the Spanish time to get there and win a big battle against the Turks. In the year 1480, approximately 800 people were impaled or beheaded by the Turks for failing to convert, and this year the 800 were canonized the same day Pope Benedict XVI resigned. Pope Francis held the canonization ceremony on May 12, 2013.
The cathedral in Otranto contains the skulls and bones of the 800 martyrs and they can be seen on both sides of the altar downstairs. The beautiful cathedral contains some unusual Byzantine mosaics such as a cat with boots only on its two left paws (symbolizing right and wrong). Our next trip was to Gallipoli, on the western side of Puglia. It’s a big port city which has lately become known as “party central” in Salento, as the southern area of Puglia is called. There are a lot of clubs and bars, and even a yacht club. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of fishermen in Gallipoli, and after they finish going out to sea for the first time that day, around 10:30 a.m., they gather in their clubouse to play cards, especially tressette (and sette e mezzo at Christmas time). The impressive clubhouse has a sign on the door saying “Comitato Pescatori Gallipoli”. In the homes of Gallipoli, you can often see the customary “altarino,” the little altar or shrine that consists of photos of deceased loved ones and votive candles, visible through windows or front doors as you walk through the town. On another day trip, we went to Ostuni, which is built on a hill surrounded by an ocean of olive trees, some of them over 500 years old. Ostuni is known for all its whitewashed houses. It is one of the oldest inhabited areas of Italy,
and bones have been found there of a girl from 25,000 years ago. While in Ostuni, we went to the Osteria del Tempo Perso for a cooking class (more like a cooking show!!) where the two chefs showed their expertise in making some delicious dishes. These guys could really cook, and, at the end of the class, they prepared a light cheesecake made with ricotta. It got our vote for “best cheesecake ever!!” Another day trip was to the Polvanera Winery, named after the black soil of the area. Outside we were invited to taste the pizzuto grapes on a 150-year-old vine - so delicious!! The Cassano family which owns the operation has been in business for just 10 years but it is already successful. It uses stainless steel vats to make organic wine. The owners explained that instead of using pesticides, they use ribbons with pheronomes to trick the male and female insects so they don’t reproduce. About 80% of their wine is sold abroad (China, U.S., Denmark and Belgium). Years ago, coal was mined in the area so the soil was black;the owners decided to keep the name Polvanera consequently. Out of the thousands of wines in Italy, Polvanera’s wine was ranked number 27. Yet another day trip was to Altamura, which is famous for its bread. Altamura is also famous for the
“L’uomo di Altamura” (“man of Altamura”), the Neanderthal man whose 400,000- year-old bones were found here in a limestone cave. It’s a well-fortified city with high walls built in 1300 (the newer part of town was built in 1700). The beautiful Romanesque 10 cathedral of San Nicola features an archway depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament. On a beautiful Sunday morning, we went to Trani, a medieval town by the sea. We learned that historically, by the 12th century, Trani had one of the largest Jewish communities in southern Italy. And the churches have tall belltowers similar to the churches in Croatia which is close by. Some of us went to Mass in a small church in Trani and the priest gave a heartfelt sermon on the Lampedusa tragedy where hundreds of migrants drowned in the sea trying to reach Sicily. Afterwards, we wanted to do a little shopping so we asked a man passing by where we could find some shops, and he told us all the shops were closed on Sunday.
Luckily for us, we then thought to ask a woman whether any shops were open, and she immediately showed us some beautiful shops, open for business. Lesson learned. The town is known for its “pietra di Trani,” a special stone found in local quarries which is used to build in Bari and elsewhere. Along the Trani waterfront are fishermen selling their wares - fish so fresh you can see the gleam in their eye, and octupus too. Of course, we couldn’t come to Puglia and not go to Alberobello, with its 1,000 trulli (conical-shaped whitewashed houses with gray stone roofs). One member of our group has a cousin in Connecticut who built a trullo in his back yard with stones imported from Puglia. We learned that about 500 years ago, the early trullo masters learned how to build these conical structures without using cement.
This came in handy when the owners would dismantle their houses and the walls around their property just before the tax man came around each year. Then, after the tax man had made his rounds, these crafty homeowners would reassemble their trulli and stone walls. The trulli also feature a good luck symbol on the top of each structure. There are a variety of symbols to ward off the evil eye (malocchio). This is not just a thing of the past, either. In the South, 17 is considered an unlucky number, just like the number 13 in the North. As a result, we were told that Alitalia planes do not have rows numbered 13 or 17 (we checked, it’s true!!) and hotels do not have room numbers ending in 13 or 17 (also true).
On another day trip, we went to Matera, in the Basilicata region. Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its “sassi,” or prehistoric cave dwellings. The city of Matera was built in a canyon, with the center city built in a gulley. It’s an upside-down city, with cemeteries built on top of the churches. The famous “sassi” are cave houses chiseled out of rock, whose residents lived in primitive conditions - no running water, no electricity - well into the 20th century.
In the 1950s, the cave dwellers were forced to move into the “other Matera” after Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi became aware of their plight. The “sassi” were originally built by Greek monks centuries ago, but over time, 3,000 caves came to be occupied by communities of about 90 people, each with a boss whose rule was law. The caves had no doors or windows, and people lived together with their animals. Life was harsh, but people were inventive - among the tools they made were 5 hollowed-out bamboo shoots strung together to wear on the hand to protect the fingers while working in the fields. Matera actually resembles Jerusalem of 2,000 years ago, so it has been used in movie sets for a number of movies, including Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” Matera is certainly a unique city. And on the side of the streets, there are rocks with arugula growing in between that can be picked and eaten (delicious!!).
Nearby, a small club with musicians playing in the middle of the day was another unexpected treat. Before leaving Basilicata, we visited the beautiful church of Santa Lucia alle Malve in Matera which has a strong Byzantine influence, as do many of the churches and buildings in Puglia. Towards the end of our trip, we went to the Castel del Monte. The castle is one of the most famous in Italy, and it’s pictured on the one-cent euro coin. The castle has 8 towers made of 8 sides. It’s built on a hilltop and has red marble taken from Caserta. It was built in 1240 by Italian-born King Frederik II of Swabia for no apparent reason since it’s not near the sea or a city and may have been built as a hideout for the king’s mistress. The castle was built with lower, thicker walls than earlier castles in Italy, because by this time their enemies had begun using cannons rather than catapults.
Our last evening was spent in Polignano a Mare, a beautiful seaside town built on a rocky cliff. The evening in Polignano a Mare was our final chance to taste the delicious Pugliese food before heading home. The town’s most famous native son is Domenico Modugno, the singer, songwriter, actor and (later in life) member of Parliament best known for his 1958 international hit song “Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare).” (The song, co-written by Modugno, became an enormous success and won two Grammy Awards in the United States).
I have to say the food in Puglia was amazing - I could live on the bread made with onion, tomatoes and olives, called “pizzo,” which is of course very different from the meaning of the word in other parts of Italy – lace, goatee, and protection money, to name a few. One of the many delicious dishes was the orecchiette con cime di rapa, and of course the fresh fish was a real treat too. Among the interesting traditions of Puglia is the fischietti pugliesi, a tradition which began in the Middle Ages. These are whistles which are handmade products of terra cotta painted by hand in vibrant colors. Many are in fanciful animal shapes (a popular one being the rooster) which showcase the skill and imagination of the craftsmen.
With their unique sound, the whistles are meant to give joy equally to those who see them and those who play them. Another tradition becoming more popular nowadays is dancing the pizzica, the folk dance originally from Salento which has spread to other parts of Puglia and also Calabria and Basilicata. The pizzica is part of the larger family of tarantella dances. In recent years as the pizzica became popular with a new generation, there has been a summer Notte della Taranta, an all-night affair where many well-known musicians and pizzica orchestras perform. Although Puglia does not see a lot of visitors from the United States, this beautiful region is well worth seeing. As they say in Bari, “Sciamunsin.”
(Note: I would like to thank Cecilia Fiermonte for the valuable information she gave me before my trip to Puglia, a place she knows very well as it is the birthplace of her mother and sister).