Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks: A Son's Discovery of His Italian Heritage (Hardcover)
Description
"Giovanni Ruscitti has written a wonderful book of
special relevance for all North and South Americans whose ancestors
have migrated from Asia, Europe, and Africa. His journey to the land of
his forefathers is so meaningful not only because of the discovery of
what connects us 'Americanos' to the rest of the world but also the
journey within. A trip in which we all feel recognized. Bravo maestro "--Hernando de Soto, finalist for Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and author of Mystery of Capital
Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks
is a passionate and deeply moving story about a father-son
relationship; a culture rooted in family, food and wine; and an
ancestral small town in Central Italy that was left behind after World
War II.
On November 11, 1943, the Nazis invaded
Cansano, forcing its two thousand inhabitants to make a tough
decision--fight and be killed or sent to a POW camp, stay behind as
servants to the Nazis, or move into the unforgiving mountains of Abruzzo
while the Nazis used their village as a home base. Giovanni Ruscitti's
family chose the latter and spent the next few months living in
horrendous winter conditions in the rugged mountains. When the war
ended, they returned to a village so ravaged by the Nazis that, today,
the town has less than two hundred citizens and remains in a dilapidated
state.
In this memoir, Ruscitti visits Cansano
for the first time with his family, including parents Emiliano and
Maria. As he walks Cansano's cobblestones, his father's stories and life
are illuminated by the town piazza, the steep valley, and the
surrounding mountains. He relives the tales of his parents' struggles
during World War II, their extreme post-war misery and poverty, their
budding romance after, and their decision to immigrate to the US in
search of the American Dream.
Ruscitti's
adventure is not just an exploration of his homeland but reveals what
family, culture, wisdom, and love really means. And what our heritage
really tells us about who we are.
