Discover
Italy - not as a tourist in a packaged tour, nor as a foreigner in
a sea of foreigner, but as a writer in a community of other writers immersed
in literature, local culture, good food, wine and sun and sea in an idyllic
corner of the Adriatic: Vasto, Abruzzo.
Once part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Abruzzo is smack in the
center of Italy, where Lazio, Umbria and the Marche meet, and the Mezzogiorno
begins. This location offers an open door to the bounty of Italy’s
cultural centers and the simpler pleasures of the land. Rugged and luscious,
the region boasts the highest peak of the Appenines and the best sand
in Italy.
Aristocratic poet, Gabriele D’Annunzio, born in Pescara but indoctrinated in the politics of his day in Rome, revealed his poetic sensitivity when inspired by the sensual images of the woods of his native land:
« Taci, su le soglie/del bosco non vedo/ parole che dici/ umane, ma odo/parole piu nuove/ che parlono gocciole e foglie lontane. »
"Be quiet, on the threshold
of the woods/ I don’t see the human words you utter/ but hear newer
ones/ spoken from far away by rain drops and leaves."
Ignazio Silone, also from these parts and known as “a socialist
without a party and a Christian without a church” traveled far and
wide, but searched for equilibrium by setting his novel, Bread and Wine,
in the humble countryside of his past.
Just as these two authors, countless others writers, artists and simple folks left the region in a mass exodus from the early 20th century to the 1960’s in search of fortune, fame and ideologies. Such notables as Gabriele Rossetti, Sallust, Dean Martin, Ovid, Don De Lillo and Madonna are all products of this land who have enriched so many other regions of the globe. Chances are, we all know of someone who comes from Abbruzzo, but little about the place itself.
