North of Naples South of Rome

by Paolo Tullio

This charming memoir of life in the Comino Valley of Italy describes a hilariously chaotic wine competition, samples the Italian cantina, instructs on market day haggling and surreptitious truffle-hunting, and investigates the charms and scams of Naples.

Genres: Travel, Italy, History, Nonfiction, Italian Literature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994

Reviews

[Tim Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable memoir about the author’s experiences in his hometown of Gallinaro, in the Comino Valley in Lazio, a valley that makes up about a fifth of the province of Frosinone. Though he grew up in England, lived for years in Ireland and his roots there prevent him from making the permanent movie to Italy, and he grew up with English as his first language, he calls Gallinaro his home town and he goes to “Italy every year and…hope[s] that my children have come to love the people and places as I have” staying in a home in Gallinaro. This book is about Gallinaro and the “real Italy,” which he says “lies here, in the Comino Valley, north of Naples, south of Rome, high in the mountains, surrounded by the Apennine peaks.” Though he admits his “viewpoint is parochial” and indeed many of his observations are specific to the valley or the small town, he does make a number of lengthy observations about Italy as a whole, sometimes using this region as a starting point, sometimes just speaking about Italy in general.

In a book that is both up to date for the time written (mentioning a number of times then recent aspects of Italian culture and politics) yet perhaps out of date now (the book was published in 1994), the author has sixteen pretty much topical chapters discussing life in Gallinaro, in the Comino Valey, and a number of observations and discussions about Italian politics, history, and culture. Some are cute stories such as his experience as a wine judge at a local competition or reminiscences of his family trying to find a place to swim with some degree of privacy (avoiding the very Italian crowds that tend to show up, a subject he discussed at length). Much of the book is various discussions on such things as fireworks in the Comino Valley, how in Italy “political parties are not based at grass-roots level on ideology, but are tribal – an extension of the family self-help group,” how fashion “is a tyrant in Italy,” that the phrase “clothes maketh the man is not an old adage in Italy, it’s a way of life” and how at “an individual level Italians define themselves in terms of their public persona,” a widespread view that pasta and other foods have to be difficult to make to be good and that anything that makes it easier is suspect, a discussion of the Italian system of patronage and “institutionalized corruption,” discussing the concept of raccomandazione (“a recommendation accompanied by implicit or explicit emoluments”), the Italian concept of sistemare, “a word that can be rendered in English as ‘to bring order into chaos’…a constant push to improve,” and why with a decline in church attendance religious festivals are still popular (“A lot can be explained by the Italian predilection for theatre” and like “markets, the festa provides for Italians a backdrop, a theatrical set which the drama of life can be played out”). There is a nice chapter on Italian cuisine, with a good discussion especially of spaghetti carbonara, prosciutto, ricotta, gnocchi, and the digestive liqueur known as nocino, made from walnuts.

No index or bibliography. Two nice maps and throughout the book are excellent pen and ink drawings by his wife, artist Susan Morley.

[Noah Oanh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice and easy travel book to read about Comino Valley in the Southern part of Italy. You feel like you just go through a road trip with Paolo Tullio to the Comino where his ancestors were from to see the beauty, the culture and everything else that the locals went through. No question why they have great taste on food, fashion, car etc...They have great eyes that could catch the smallest details and could do everything no matter in fashion way. Italian people are very interesting people and Paolo who is living now in Ireland did me a favour to compare a bit of life in Ireland and Irish people to Italian and their lifestyle. He also gave us some great nice recipes on cheese and sausage - that Italian spent so much time to make it but the world owns them that because their food is so delicious!

The book also gave me some thoughts about how people in certain places would react about what something I could think it is cool and hip but it could be a representative of the hardship that people have been through before. So be more mindful when you comment about some traditional stuffs in someone's house in the future!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cultural look at the provincial town of Gallinaro, Italy, through its traditions and way of life. I learned about the exceptionally loyal ties within one's family, the highly social (and largely anti-solitary) nature of the culture, and the ubiquitous role of bribery. Here are some key takeaways:

- Favors should always be paid back and everyone keeps a mental register to ensure they are
- Italian is often the second language of Italians; the first is typically their dialect
- the road expansion to rural areas is new (granted, this book was written in 1994) and is making travel a bigger part of daily life
- Italian fashion is defined by being modern and current - individuality is not celebrated much within national fashion
- the harder way to cook something is nearly always preferred

Hate to be rude, but the rest of this book is not very memorable. I started it yesterday and already feel like I have forgotten a lot of what I read. So... take that for what you will.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an intermittently charming and amusing look at the British/Irish/Italian author's ancestral village well off the tourist track in Italy. Plenty of insights into Italian (especially rural Italian) culture and character, with a fair bit of askance views bordering on contempt. Generally entertaining, but some of the writing – a description of the physical layout of his village, and some cooking instructions in the chapter on food – are hard to follow.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

very enjoyable and well informed account of history and culture of this part of rural Italy
can hear Paulo's voice through out - erudite and witty
read while on holiday near Naples

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tullio is both an insider and an outsider, having been born in this valley but has lived, and still lives, in other countries. Thus his perspective is impressive, as are his discussions on a multitude of topics relating to this particular place on earth.

[Agatha Donkar Lund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly unmemorable, but with a few choice turns of phrase about the valley contained between Naples and Rome.