Show r If More To Italy Than Spaghetti os Ir I II It r r t t a f I sr s- s t I f r Ramona Gilbert left front Bountiful student attending II school in Milan Italy is enjoying her Italian family She lives with Mr and Mrs Pietro Berti Patrizia center and Filippo right back By RAMONA GILBERT The land of wine and sunshine sunshine sunshine sun sun- shine mandolin players and pizza Ferraris and t the home of l Mussolini Leonardo da Vinci Dante Casanova Julius Ceasar and Christopher Columbus Columbus Columbus Co Co- Co- Co lumbus this is the Italy most Americans know l f Many ny tourists get to know her better better better bet bet- ter by visiting Rome Venice 1 Florence Naples Pisa Pompeii and Milan In fact every year over ovel twenty million million million mil mil- lion travellers swarm over overt t the fa face of the e shaped boot-shaped peninsula the native population population population lation is just fifty million making a proportion of one tourist to every two and a half Italians It is universally universally universally sally accepted however that practically no tourist ever becomes well enough acquainted with Italy to appreciate appreciate appreciate ap ap- ap- ap and understand the perplexing personalities of her people her history and I political problems and the reasoning and ideas of her I young people Nevertheless there are many who are so intrigued by these aspects that they stay for long periods periods periods per per- I of time trying to figure them out and are ultimately persuaded to settle there THEY TIlEY FIND that the place has an irresistible and fatal charm This is the Italy which h I am am aln n getting etting to know and ove cove this year as an Americans AES-Americans cans Abroad Stu Stu- dent Naturally the time is adequate but I have already been able to probe beneath the evident characteristics and analyze the familiar en en- The picture is not al always ways a pretty one other than Spain Italy is economically the poorest country in Western Western Western West West- ern Europe This condition can be attributed in part to the poverty of the people in inthe inthe inthe the south The northerners on an economic level close to that of the US U.S. are often scornful of these ali and the southerners in turn envy their richer countrymen but do nothing to remedy their situation As Luigi Barzini states in his seller best-seller The TIle Italians this is a result of the personality personality personality per per- differences between the two groups Southerners Southern Southern- ers prize more than anything anything anything any any- thing fame an important title or importance in the community whether or not these are accompanied by high wages while desire above all money OBVIOUSLY this picture is a singular and generalized generalized generalized general general- one In fact the most impressing thing about Italy is the great variety of people geography food personalities and languages dispersed throughout her twenty regions There are the valle d' d Aosta with its majestic alps and French- French Italian dialect Romagna with its popular beaches and characteristic dishes Tuscany well known for its hot-blooded hot politicians in the past and present today many are communists communists communists and the island Sei- Sei cily famous for its red- red fleshed ranges and the mafia The region I know best however is Lombardy M My Italian family has lived in the suburb of the highly industrialized city of Milan for seventeen years even though it is originally from Romagna My father I Pietro Berti is an industrial industrial industrial indus indus- trial engineer a typical profession of the area Many I of her Milanese are doctors lawyers factory owners bankers and international businessmen ONE-FOURTH ONE of Italy's wealth is concentrated in inthe inthe inthe the city where only one ty-fifth ty of her people reside The two and a half million people are the ones who have nice houses or apartments cars dishwashers televisions and hair dryers Their chili chil chil- i dren have motorcycles skis and electric guitars and attend attend attend at at- tend or classical schools where a college preparatory education may be had These are the Italians who are rich and well-educated well enough to appreciate their glorious culture and history They are also very aware of the world of today and imitate the US U.S. way of life by watching watching watching watch watch- ing John Wayne westerns and Huckleberry Hound on TV by eating peanut butter and pizza out of a box by wearing levis and sweat shirts by speaking English and by listening listening listening lis lis- lis- lis to cream eream records BUT EVEN through the chilling fog of the Milanese winter you can tell they are Italians No Barbarian invasion invasion invasion inva inva- sion no world war and no swarm of foreign inhabitants has ever been able to change the Italian personality He may wear the face of the Spanish Spanish Spanish Span Span- ish Inquisition or the occupation occupation tion of the French but an Italian Italian Italian Ital Ital- ian is always himself inside an individualist to the end He has the personality that has perplexed outsiders for two thousand years and only one onehundred onehundred onehundred hundred years ago were Italians Italians Italians Ital Ital- ians themselves able to understand understand understand under under- stand each other well enough to set up the shaky but united republic which now has nine political parties YES ITALY IS a complicated place there is much more to it than spaghetti But I would be content to stay here for another year discovering and rediscovering her charms |