Summers in Supino: Becoming Italian
Summers in Supino: Becoming Italian

Author: Maria McLean

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 177090364X

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“A vivid memoir” of a time spent in Supino, Italy “quickly transports readers into the charm and richness of village life . . . a story of love and family.” (Publishers Weekly) Every summer Maria and her husband, Bob, went to their little house in the Italian village of Supino, and every year it was a new adventure. Only in Supino would you find a pizzeria in a sheep pasture, a seafood restaurant hidden in the woods, or an electrical cord draped from one balcony to the next so neighbours could share power. In Supino, they celebrate the first figs of the season; host watermelon, azalea, and artichoke festivals; and take pleasure in the magical view of the stars in the summer sky. Written with humour and heart, Summers in Supino is Maria Coletta McLean’s memoir of these summers with Bob, as she becomes accustomed to the town her father grew up in and the peculiarities of the people who live there. Cousin Guido argues with their neighbour over who can plant a grapevine and therefore reap the harvest. Villagers debate whether one neighbour can trade the installation of some terra cotta tiles and the use of a pizza oven (he has yet to build) for the land beneath Bob and Maria’s patio. And as Maria comes to understand her connection to this wonderful place, Bob proposes they open a coffee bar on the piazza. Full of wonderfully vivid stories of Italy, Summers in Supino also explores loss, grief, and the restorative power of community.

Summers in Supino
Summers in Supino

Author: Maria Coletta McLean

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 9781770903630

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An Italian Canadian woman recounts her annual summer trips with her husband to her ancestral village of Supino, Italy, in this heartwarming hybrid of travel guide and memoir. Written with humor and heart, it describes her process of adjusting to life in her father’s hometown, as well as the eccentricities of its people. Supino’s colorful landscapes and citizens make for vivid stories, from pizzerias in sheep pastures and fish restaurants hidden in the woods to village-wide celebrations of figs, watermelon, azaleas, and artichokes. The book goes on to explain how with every trip, the budding Italian gains a deeper understanding of her connection to Supino and comes to more fully embrace her cultural heritage. Filled with brilliant stories about a fascinating land, this engaging narrative explores notions of identity and the restorative power of community.

My Father Came from Italy
My Father Came from Italy

Author: Maria Coletta McLean

Publisher: Raincoast Books

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 9781551923567

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After 64 years, Mezzabotte Coletta, a retired truck driver for a Toronto macaroni factory, is returning to his native Italia. In a village called Supino said to take its name from the crossroads where Christ rested, supine, en route from Rome to Naples, is a rundown villa bought sight unseen by Mezzabotte's daughter Maria-an olive branch after years of family struggle. While she and her husband Bob breathe in the chatter of local tradesmen, the fragrant offerings of well-wishing neighbours and the aroma of fine wine, her father awaits in Canada anticipating the day he will again touch Italian soil. Hoping to avoid the wounds of his difficult marriage and the onset of senility, father and daughter retrace footsteps that yield from the Saint of Special Favours a miraculous recovery.

Literary Tourism
Literary Tourism

Author: Ian Jenkins

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2019-07-12

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1786394596

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Literary tourism is a nascent field in tourism studies, yet tourists often travel in the footsteps of well-known authors and stories. Providing a wide-ranging cornucopia of literary tourism topics, this book fully explores the interconnections between the written word and travel. It includes tourism stories using guidebooks, films, television and electronic media, and recognises that stories, texts and narratives, even if they cannot be classified as traditional travel writing, can become journeys in themselves and take us on imaginary voyages. Appealing to a wide audience of different disciplines, it encompasses subjects such as business literary writing, historical journeys and the poetry of Dylan Thomas. The use of these different perspectives demonstrates how heavily and widely literature influences travel, tourists and tourism, making it an important read for researchers and students of tourism, social science and literature.

Die Walking
Die Walking

Author: Obadiah M.

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2021-10-05

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1487009739

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An unforgettable first-person account of surviving the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath Featuring a foreword by Globe and Mail Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York In 1994, Obadiah was the thirteen-year-old son of a Hutu pastor, living comfortably in Rwanda and dreaming of becoming a pilot, when violence and bloodshed began to engulf the country. His family soon fled their home, pursued by soldiers and stalked by death and hunger. As the genocide led into a horrific war, Obadiah was forced to survive unrelenting terror and the darkest despair as a refugee, both in neighbouring Zaire and eventually in the American refugee detention system. Obadiah was sustained through these horrors by his faith and the philosophy of ubuntu — finding one’s self through connection with others. In the spirit of Night by Elie Wiesel, Die Walking is one boy’s horrific story of shared humanity in a chaotic world.

Ciao Bella!
Ciao Bella!

Author: Kate Langbroek

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-11-04

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 1760857556

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Kate Langbroek’s deliciously funny and inspiring memoir about moving to Italy with her family to seek la dolce vita. ‘A wonderful story, beautifully written, filled with heart and humour’ Liane Moriarty (reviewing Ciao Bella! on 3pm Pick Up, KIIS 1065) I wasn’t looking to fall in love. It just happened. There were moments, encounters as fleeting as feelings. Sometimes – tellingly – they emerged from chaos. When Kate Langbroek first dreamed of moving to Italy, she imagined a magnificent sun-drenched pastiche of long lunches and wandering through cobbled laneways clutching a loaf of crusty bread and a bottle of wine, Sophia Loren-style, while handsome men called out ‘Ciao Bella!’ In the stark light of day the dream Kate shared with her husband Peter after an idyllic holiday in Italy seemed like madness. They didn’t speak Italian. They knew no one in Italy. They had four children. Kate also had the best job in the world on a top-rating radio show with her longtime friend, Dave Hughes. But the siren song of Italy was irresistible. This would be the adventure of a lifetime, a precious opportunity to spend more time with their children – Lewis, Sunday, Artie and Jannie – and it came from a deep well inside to seize life after they almost lost Lewis to leukaemia. Ciao Bella! is about having a dream and living it as Kate shares the sublime joys and utter chaos of adapting to a new life in Bologna, what you discover about yourself when you are a stranger in a strange land, and how she fell in love. With a country. Deliciously funny, insightful and often deeply moving, Ciao Bella! is Kate’s love letter to Italy and her family. It is also a glorious reminder of what Italians can teach us about living life to the full – and what really matters when the world goes to hell in a handbasket.

Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons
Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons

Author: Matthew Fort

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2009-04-28

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1429995025

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Replete with authentic Siclian recipes culled directly from the out of the way island stoves and cafe kitchens that cook them, Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons presents a travelogue for seasoned travelers, and lovers of all things Italian. At the age of twenty-six Matthew Fort first visited the island of Sicily. He and his brother arrived in 1973 expecting sun, sea and good food, but they were totally unprepared for the lifelong effect of this most extraordinary place. Thirty years later and a bit wiser—but no less hungry—Matthew finally returns. Travelling around the island on his scooter, Monica, he samples exquisite antipasti in rundown villages and delicate pastries in towns tumbling down vertical hillsides, and goes fishing for anchovies underneath a sky scattered with stars. Once again this enigmatic island casts its spell as Matthew rediscovers its beauty, the intensity of its flavors, and finds himself digging into the darkness of Sicily's past as well as some mysteries of his own.

Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia!

Author: Maria Coletta McLean

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1550226517

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Growing up a second-generation Italian woman in Canada is not as easy as it looks. In fact, it requires the keeping of secrets, the telling of lies, the casting of curses, and the patience of a saint. Here 20 Italian-Canadian women share their stories -- some comic, some tragic, some nostalgic, all true -- about living a double life with a private/public split personality. Intimate, inspiring, brave, and confessional, these tales reveal women old enough to reminisce yet young enough to revolutionize. Balancing between the Old Country and the new, a respect for tradition and the need to break with it, this collection is a rare and surprising blend of humour and candor that promises the perfect conversation-starter. Mamma mia, what will they dare say next?