An Introduction
An Introduction
(May 1, 2008)
The tiny street in Santo Stefano leading from my house to the piazza
Looking Back...
Looking Ahead
Growing up, I spent almost every summer visiting my parent’s two small towns in Southern Italy. Santo Stefano, my father’s town, in the mountains and about an hour outside of Napoli, and Martone, my mother’s town, ten minutes from the beach in Calabria. Both my father and mother were born there, but came to the States when they were six and five, respectively.
With cousins, aunts, family friends and whoever else happened to be leaving at the same time, we would board a full Alitalia flight and head back for weeks spent in the sun with more cousins, friends and family.
Invariably, as soon as I hit the hot cobblestoned pavement, I was out. In piazza, at the beach, and later, at shops, clubs, bars, pubs, friend’s houses and at least twice a summer, picnicking in the mountains. Invariably, whenever someone would ask one of my grandparents where I was, they would shrug their shoulders, smile, and say “Sempre in giro.”
Around. About. Somewhere. Everywhere.
The same goes for this blog. It’s going to be a little bit all over the place: some music, some movies, some real-life events, some fashion, some lifestyle. But, overall, it’s centered around being young and Italian-American and living that experience to the fullest.
On the occasion that I would hear my grandparents telling their friends where I was, I would smile to myself. I liked the way it sounded. I was young and experiencing everything that this culture had to offer. This culture, somewhere between being Italian and being American that I was creating for myself. One that I hope, through this blog, I’m able to share with you.
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This Blog
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Family from Martone and my "Calabria DNA Project"
Hi Marissa,
It was nice running into your article as I was surfing the net. My name is Louis Loccisano. My grandmother, Maria Giuseppa Papallo, was born in Martone in 1903, though I have only been there once in 2002.
I am head of the Calabria DNA Project, which is sponsered by National Geographic Magazine, and my goal is to get the Y-DNA and mtDNA samples of many Martonese, in order to find the origins of the different peoples who settled Martone in ancient times.
Here are my websites:
Calabria DNA Project http://www.familytreedna.com/public/calabria_dna
Family Tree Project: http://www.calabriadna.com
Would be great to talk with you!
Best wishes, Louis
I Need Festival
Guarda che sappiamo fare... www.ineedfestival.com
the street
Siamo sicuri che queta strada porti alla piazza in Santo Stefano? oppure questa trada porta alle tre fontane in Martone?! ahahaha!!
ONE KISS FOR PINGUIN AND CAT. Davide
i know that street
... and i know that piazza, and that town, all so well. i love that we have some of these memories in common my dear. and i don't mean that we were there together. but instead, that each of us have lived those summers in Santo Stefano, sempre in giro, laughing under the moonlight in piazza, eating lemon gelato in the hot august sun, navigating the maze of feasts arm in arm with our friends, piling onto the church stairs for photos on sundays. and on it went, and still goes, in our memories. i miss you much my little cousin, and i hope to see you soon. there or here.
:-)
it's fantastic what u have done.and then your words aroused deep emotions in me ...your childhood is exactly the same one for me..you know we growed up together....and in our martonese dialect our grandparents said..."sempi girandu vannu" love miriam
Sempre in giro...
Sempre in giro... soprattutto di notte, quando ti fai rubare le borse... hihihihhii