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My Two Italies
A charming, informative personal history that blends the anecdotal, historical, and downright unusual
The child of Italian immigrants and an award-winning scholar of Italian literature, in My Two Italies Joseph Luzzi straddles these two perspectives to link his family’s dramatic story to Italy’s north-south divide, its quest for a unifying language, and its passion for art, food, and family.
From his Calabrian father’s time as a military internee in Nazi Germany—where he had a love affair with a local Bavarian woman—to his adventures amid the Renaissance splendor of Florence, Luzzi creates a deeply personal portrait of Italy that leaps past facile clichés about Mafia madness and Tuscan sun therapy. He delves instead into why Italian Americans have such a complicated relationship with the “old country,” and how Italy produces some of the world’s most astonishing art while suffering from corruption, political fragmentation, and an enfeebled civil society.
With topics ranging from the pervasive force of Dante’s poetry to the meteoric rise of Silvio Berlusconi, Luzzi presents the Italians in all their glory and squalor, relating the problems that plague Italy today to the country’s ancient roots. He shares how his “two Italies”—the earthy southern Italian world of his immigrant childhood and the refined “northern” Italian realm of his professional life—join and clash in unexpected ways that continue to enchant the many millions who are either connected to Italy by ancestry or bound to it by love.
The child of Italian immigrants and an award-winning scholar of Italian literature, in My Two Italies Joseph Luzzi straddles these two perspectives to link his family’s dramatic story to Italy’s north-south divide, its quest for a unifying language, and its passion for art, food, and family.
From his Calabrian father’s time as a military internee in Nazi Germany—where he had a love affair with a local Bavarian woman—to his adventures amid the Renaissance splendor of Florence, Luzzi creates a deeply personal portrait of Italy that leaps past facile clichés about Mafia madness and Tuscan sun therapy. He delves instead into why Italian Americans have such a complicated relationship with the “old country,” and how Italy produces some of the world’s most astonishing art while suffering from corruption, political fragmentation, and an enfeebled civil society.
With topics ranging from the pervasive force of Dante’s poetry to the meteoric rise of Silvio Berlusconi, Luzzi presents the Italians in all their glory and squalor, relating the problems that plague Italy today to the country’s ancient roots. He shares how his “two Italies”—the earthy southern Italian world of his immigrant childhood and the refined “northern” Italian realm of his professional life—join and clash in unexpected ways that continue to enchant the many millions who are either connected to Italy by ancestry or bound to it by love.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published July 15, 2014
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552 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Luzzi
19 books115 followersBio: Joseph Luzzi
Joseph Luzzi (PhD, Yale) teaches Comparative Literature and Italian Studies at Bard College. His most recent book is Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance (2022). He is also the author of Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy (2008), winner of the MLA’s Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies; A Cinema of Poetry: Aesthetics of the Italian Art Film (2014); My Two Italies (2014), a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection; In a Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love (2015), a Vanity Fair “Must-Read” selection that has been translated into multiple languages. Two forthcoming books include his new translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova; and his study Dante’s “Divine Comedy”: A Biography will appear in 2024. Luzzi’s public-facing writing has appeared in the New York Times, TLS, London Times, Los Angeles Times, American Scholar, Bookforum, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere, and his awards include a Dante Society of America Essay Prize, National Humanities Center Fellowship, and Wallace Fellowship at Villa I Tatti. In 2022 Joseph received a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Award in support of his book project Brunelleschi’s Children: How a Renaissance Orphanage Saved 400,000 Lives and Reinvented Childhood.
Joseph Luzzi (PhD, Yale) teaches Comparative Literature and Italian Studies at Bard College. His most recent book is Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance (2022). He is also the author of Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy (2008), winner of the MLA’s Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies; A Cinema of Poetry: Aesthetics of the Italian Art Film (2014); My Two Italies (2014), a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection; In a Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love (2015), a Vanity Fair “Must-Read” selection that has been translated into multiple languages. Two forthcoming books include his new translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova; and his study Dante’s “Divine Comedy”: A Biography will appear in 2024. Luzzi’s public-facing writing has appeared in the New York Times, TLS, London Times, Los Angeles Times, American Scholar, Bookforum, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere, and his awards include a Dante Society of America Essay Prize, National Humanities Center Fellowship, and Wallace Fellowship at Villa I Tatti. In 2022 Joseph received a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Award in support of his book project Brunelleschi’s Children: How a Renaissance Orphanage Saved 400,000 Lives and Reinvented Childhood.
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January 23, 2016
No synopsis but a reaction from another 1st Generation out of la miseria.
Too much to put into a concise review for me, particularly in the short reaction that I usually accomplish. But I do highly recommend this book if you have loved Italy for travel, Italians, or especially if having close association or connection to any 1st or 2nd generation people who are what is now dubbed with the dash, Italian-Americans.
Because there is such a dichotomy in Italy's identity as a nation or in self-identity for its individual citizens, the description Italian-American is particularly close to meaningless. For instance, my parent and grandparents like Joseph's did not think of themselves as Italian. Nor did they speak the language that is taught in schools as the Italian language. Joseph's were Calabrese of Asi. Mine were Sicilian de Rocella. I could write a similar book of 1st generation stories. Regardless, my Mom or Grandparents would not have understood his Mom's and Dad's Calabrese. It is not an accent difference, it is a different language both for pronunciation and base word form.
I laughed and cried reading this book. Especially within swatches of his memories of his Dad's gardening and his parents' relationships with animals or pets. Also to the relative sense of the accepted seat of worth for daughters as against sons. But the crux of this book is in the literary and historical examples Luzzi cites. What/why former "Italians" here in the USA, just like his parents, perceive of the state of nationhood or government itself. The Italy since unification that as a nation is absolutely the sublime and the obscene-and both at the same time. Seeped in history and faith, and yet still today, having parts and populations whose lifestyles and consciousness are absolutely for all criteria 3 or 4 centuries apart. Which could be another lesson non-Italians from any continent might understand with this book's window. Because this is often similar to the troubled Middle East's populations (not in religion but in personal self-identity), it is no little thing to understand the family bond/tribal/village over any collective "we-think" of government identity, if we are facing dire issues with other peoples who have similar "eyes".
Italians do not, as a protective rule: work, speak or perceive in much "collective think" at all. Sicilians do not use any, that I have observed. Luzzi's study of the boot's languages with their constant use of the subjective verb! It is quite different from English or other European origins, that way of speaking. This comes from constant invasion (distrust of authority), but also out of a difficult, complex and powerful past that is still visible in the physical.
All the Leopardi literary observations in this book were also priceless. And his Dante and other Florence related chapters on the composite decisions that formed the Tuscan model for the Italian language prime to the accomplishment of unification. But it is still the very one that a goodly portion of Italians cannot speak or understand.
But in personal reaction, the adjustments Joseph has made with family members who have/hold values and criteria of 200 or 300 years ago, were the most interesting for me to read and consider. He was lucky, because he was THE boy. Dom's decision (his uncle) was also extremely interesting for me to evaluation. It took me about a day for that all to sink in. You will have to read the book to understand what I am posting here. But it is about "honor" and family or clan consequence for an individual's failure to follow their agreed outcome for another's transgression, especially a wife or sister or daughter. And how extremely brave to amputate yourself from it, as Dom did.
And the stereotypes held in media within America of immigrants from Italy and their offspring! This book was never obscure in detail for me, an excellent read.
Too much to put into a concise review for me, particularly in the short reaction that I usually accomplish. But I do highly recommend this book if you have loved Italy for travel, Italians, or especially if having close association or connection to any 1st or 2nd generation people who are what is now dubbed with the dash, Italian-Americans.
Because there is such a dichotomy in Italy's identity as a nation or in self-identity for its individual citizens, the description Italian-American is particularly close to meaningless. For instance, my parent and grandparents like Joseph's did not think of themselves as Italian. Nor did they speak the language that is taught in schools as the Italian language. Joseph's were Calabrese of Asi. Mine were Sicilian de Rocella. I could write a similar book of 1st generation stories. Regardless, my Mom or Grandparents would not have understood his Mom's and Dad's Calabrese. It is not an accent difference, it is a different language both for pronunciation and base word form.
I laughed and cried reading this book. Especially within swatches of his memories of his Dad's gardening and his parents' relationships with animals or pets. Also to the relative sense of the accepted seat of worth for daughters as against sons. But the crux of this book is in the literary and historical examples Luzzi cites. What/why former "Italians" here in the USA, just like his parents, perceive of the state of nationhood or government itself. The Italy since unification that as a nation is absolutely the sublime and the obscene-and both at the same time. Seeped in history and faith, and yet still today, having parts and populations whose lifestyles and consciousness are absolutely for all criteria 3 or 4 centuries apart. Which could be another lesson non-Italians from any continent might understand with this book's window. Because this is often similar to the troubled Middle East's populations (not in religion but in personal self-identity), it is no little thing to understand the family bond/tribal/village over any collective "we-think" of government identity, if we are facing dire issues with other peoples who have similar "eyes".
Italians do not, as a protective rule: work, speak or perceive in much "collective think" at all. Sicilians do not use any, that I have observed. Luzzi's study of the boot's languages with their constant use of the subjective verb! It is quite different from English or other European origins, that way of speaking. This comes from constant invasion (distrust of authority), but also out of a difficult, complex and powerful past that is still visible in the physical.
All the Leopardi literary observations in this book were also priceless. And his Dante and other Florence related chapters on the composite decisions that formed the Tuscan model for the Italian language prime to the accomplishment of unification. But it is still the very one that a goodly portion of Italians cannot speak or understand.
But in personal reaction, the adjustments Joseph has made with family members who have/hold values and criteria of 200 or 300 years ago, were the most interesting for me to read and consider. He was lucky, because he was THE boy. Dom's decision (his uncle) was also extremely interesting for me to evaluation. It took me about a day for that all to sink in. You will have to read the book to understand what I am posting here. But it is about "honor" and family or clan consequence for an individual's failure to follow their agreed outcome for another's transgression, especially a wife or sister or daughter. And how extremely brave to amputate yourself from it, as Dom did.
And the stereotypes held in media within America of immigrants from Italy and their offspring! This book was never obscure in detail for me, an excellent read.
October 1, 2015
Joseph Luzzi is from the same part of southern Italy that my husband's ancestors came from, so it was interesting learning a little about the Mezzogiorno as Calabria is also known, and about la miseria that encompasses it. I wish Luzzi had explained why Calabrian men grow their pinkie nails out (I wonder if it's for the same reason men in parts of Asia do); and much he claimed as unique to Italy made me think of lots of different countries where life is hard except for the joys of family, or where boy children are prized and spoiled.
This book felt like a haphazard collection of separate lectures, and basically I just didn't like the sound of this guy. First he paraphrases a bunch of random Sopranos episodes, then he goes on and on about a masters thesis he wrote on Dante's Inferno, then he blurts out that his wife was 8 months pregnant with their daughter when she was killed (but he says that's a topic for another day), and then he tangents about how Burlosconi happened.
This book felt like a haphazard collection of separate lectures, and basically I just didn't like the sound of this guy. First he paraphrases a bunch of random Sopranos episodes, then he goes on and on about a masters thesis he wrote on Dante's Inferno, then he blurts out that his wife was 8 months pregnant with their daughter when she was killed (but he says that's a topic for another day), and then he tangents about how Burlosconi happened.
November 4, 2018
I have mixed emotions about this book. Overall, I liked it because I identified so much with Luzzi’s story.
Most Italian immigrants who came to this country were from the area known as the Mezzogiorno, the area south and east of Rome, areas such as Naples, Calabria, and Sicily. Northern Italy was more industrial, better educated, and affluent. The Mezzogiorno was always more agrarian, less educated, and poorer. Many Northern Italians called Southern Italy and Sicily “Africa”, and its inhabitants “Africans”. Many still do so today. The Italian immigrants who left Italy wanted a better life, to escape la miseria, the misery.
Luzzi is the son of Calabrian immigrants who came to the United States in 1956. He was born in 1967. His parents were never fully American, not even partially American. They retained all of the Calabrian customs and mores; ate Calabrian food, not American food; spoke Calabrian dialect, not English, not even Italian; stayed close to relatives and other immigrants from Calabria; and tried to pass everything Calabrian to their children. They were sullen people, never really happy or comfortable.
Luzzi grew up feeling very ambivalent about being Calabrian – he wanted to be an American! He wanted to eat like an American, dress like an American, and blend in as an American. But although he tried, he never really could. He moved away from home to go to college and graduate school. He studied the Italian language and literature and, consequently, spent much time in Italy, especially Northern Italy. Yet despite his education, his degrees, his erudition, he really did not fit in Northern Italy, because he was still considered Calabrian, an African, or, just as bad, an Italian American. He was not Italian. He fit in better in Calabria, but not by much. He was always different! He never fit in either of his Two Italies.
After the death of his wife in an automobile accident, he moves near his family again and his mother raises his infant daughter. He seems to be more comfortable with who he is, more reconciled.
I am the son of Sicilian immigrants, blue collar workers with a fifth-grade education, who came to the United States after World War II. My parents were from different provinces of Sicily, met in Philadelphia, married there, and had two children, my sister and me. I was the first in my family to go to college and the only one to go to law school. I identified so much with Luzzi’s feelings of alienation. His book reminded me of two other books, "Blood of My Blood" by Richard Gambino and "Mount Allegro" by Jerre Mangione.
I envy him that he seems to be at peace with who he is, but I never have been and probably never will be! But at least I am more aware of why. This book reminded me!
This is a short book, but it is really too long! It is organized thematically, not chronologically, and Luzzi shows off his erudition so much that I often wondered to myself “What is the point?”, “What is he trying to say here?” It also very repetitive. Consequently, I skimmed and skipped parts of it.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book.
Most Italian immigrants who came to this country were from the area known as the Mezzogiorno, the area south and east of Rome, areas such as Naples, Calabria, and Sicily. Northern Italy was more industrial, better educated, and affluent. The Mezzogiorno was always more agrarian, less educated, and poorer. Many Northern Italians called Southern Italy and Sicily “Africa”, and its inhabitants “Africans”. Many still do so today. The Italian immigrants who left Italy wanted a better life, to escape la miseria, the misery.
Luzzi is the son of Calabrian immigrants who came to the United States in 1956. He was born in 1967. His parents were never fully American, not even partially American. They retained all of the Calabrian customs and mores; ate Calabrian food, not American food; spoke Calabrian dialect, not English, not even Italian; stayed close to relatives and other immigrants from Calabria; and tried to pass everything Calabrian to their children. They were sullen people, never really happy or comfortable.
Luzzi grew up feeling very ambivalent about being Calabrian – he wanted to be an American! He wanted to eat like an American, dress like an American, and blend in as an American. But although he tried, he never really could. He moved away from home to go to college and graduate school. He studied the Italian language and literature and, consequently, spent much time in Italy, especially Northern Italy. Yet despite his education, his degrees, his erudition, he really did not fit in Northern Italy, because he was still considered Calabrian, an African, or, just as bad, an Italian American. He was not Italian. He fit in better in Calabria, but not by much. He was always different! He never fit in either of his Two Italies.
After the death of his wife in an automobile accident, he moves near his family again and his mother raises his infant daughter. He seems to be more comfortable with who he is, more reconciled.
I am the son of Sicilian immigrants, blue collar workers with a fifth-grade education, who came to the United States after World War II. My parents were from different provinces of Sicily, met in Philadelphia, married there, and had two children, my sister and me. I was the first in my family to go to college and the only one to go to law school. I identified so much with Luzzi’s feelings of alienation. His book reminded me of two other books, "Blood of My Blood" by Richard Gambino and "Mount Allegro" by Jerre Mangione.
I envy him that he seems to be at peace with who he is, but I never have been and probably never will be! But at least I am more aware of why. This book reminded me!
This is a short book, but it is really too long! It is organized thematically, not chronologically, and Luzzi shows off his erudition so much that I often wondered to myself “What is the point?”, “What is he trying to say here?” It also very repetitive. Consequently, I skimmed and skipped parts of it.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book.
July 28, 2015
The author, an italian scholar and professor at Brad, tells the story of his Calabrian family and the dynamic between northern and southern Italy. His parents immigrated to the U.S in 1956 with four children in tow. Two more children (including the author in 1967) were born on American soil.
Being of Sicilian ancestry, I certainly related to Luzzi's depiction of Italy, the north, south and territorial identities, and learned a lot of its artistic and political history as well as its language (Luzzi shares that the difference between a dialect and a language is that the latter of the two has an army.) from this book.
I was disappointed in the lack of photos. Only one of his mother. None of their homes either in the old country or here. At one point the author tells of a prize-winning squash ( we called them gaguzza) his father grew. A local paper published a photo of the patriarch with his five-foot-long squash. Would have been great if the photo was included in the book.
Very little reference to his relationship with his siblings (though thank goodness for sister Rose who encouraged him to stay in college when he was homesick). Surprising that there was no reference to the Catholic Church other than saying that his father did not attend.
My favorite part was when Luzzi recounts an unannounced visit he paid his parents years after the children were raised and his father had had a stroke.
He describes entering their backyard (Prividence, RI) and the intimacy "thick as fog" between them.
Luzzi says that his parents sacrificed their own happiness for their children's freedom.His children would bear the fruits of their labor. Southern Italians (including Sicilians) do not believe that fate is on their side. Hard work and broken bodies, as demonstrated by his father, remind him of this reality. Luzzi wanted to put down on paper an understanding he felt was fading from modern reality. He did certainly did.
Being of Sicilian ancestry, I certainly related to Luzzi's depiction of Italy, the north, south and territorial identities, and learned a lot of its artistic and political history as well as its language (Luzzi shares that the difference between a dialect and a language is that the latter of the two has an army.) from this book.
I was disappointed in the lack of photos. Only one of his mother. None of their homes either in the old country or here. At one point the author tells of a prize-winning squash ( we called them gaguzza) his father grew. A local paper published a photo of the patriarch with his five-foot-long squash. Would have been great if the photo was included in the book.
Very little reference to his relationship with his siblings (though thank goodness for sister Rose who encouraged him to stay in college when he was homesick). Surprising that there was no reference to the Catholic Church other than saying that his father did not attend.
My favorite part was when Luzzi recounts an unannounced visit he paid his parents years after the children were raised and his father had had a stroke.
He describes entering their backyard (Prividence, RI) and the intimacy "thick as fog" between them.
Luzzi says that his parents sacrificed their own happiness for their children's freedom.His children would bear the fruits of their labor. Southern Italians (including Sicilians) do not believe that fate is on their side. Hard work and broken bodies, as demonstrated by his father, remind him of this reality. Luzzi wanted to put down on paper an understanding he felt was fading from modern reality. He did certainly did.
June 20, 2015
What is an Italian-American?
Luzzi struggles with the same conflict that have plagued my thoughts for awhile: the dual perceptions of Italy (and Italian-Americans). From the beautiful, haute couture (Dante/Renaissance) to the negative stereotypes (corruption/Jersey Shore), where do we stand?
Luzzi writes a touching personal struggle about his two worlds, his Calabrian-American life (feeling not fully American) and his treatment as an outsider in Italy.
Italy, for him (and for me) was the world of high art -- beyond the neverending stereotypes of the mafia, corruption, and the like. It has always been an ideal place for many Italian-Americans. As he points out, our idyllic perceptions of Italy don't necessary match the country.
My family originally comes from the south as well. Does the Italianness I crave and claim culturally adequately represent their origins? Probably not.
Luzzi is mostly a great writer. Sometimes, however, he kind of goes into a stream-of-consciousness discussion about a personal memory that leaves the reader lost. That being said, he hooked me from the beginning. I finished it in two sittings.
While I did enjoy his personal stories, I definitely preferred the more political/analytical second half of the book. I especially enjoyed reading about how someone like Silvio Berlusconi could be as successful as he was.
This is a worthwhile read for any Italian-American (or Italian-Canadian...I appreciated that we were included among the group) or anyone interested in Italy in general.
Un libro bellissimo
Luzzi struggles with the same conflict that have plagued my thoughts for awhile: the dual perceptions of Italy (and Italian-Americans). From the beautiful, haute couture (Dante/Renaissance) to the negative stereotypes (corruption/Jersey Shore), where do we stand?
Luzzi writes a touching personal struggle about his two worlds, his Calabrian-American life (feeling not fully American) and his treatment as an outsider in Italy.
Italy, for him (and for me) was the world of high art -- beyond the neverending stereotypes of the mafia, corruption, and the like. It has always been an ideal place for many Italian-Americans. As he points out, our idyllic perceptions of Italy don't necessary match the country.
My family originally comes from the south as well. Does the Italianness I crave and claim culturally adequately represent their origins? Probably not.
Luzzi is mostly a great writer. Sometimes, however, he kind of goes into a stream-of-consciousness discussion about a personal memory that leaves the reader lost. That being said, he hooked me from the beginning. I finished it in two sittings.
While I did enjoy his personal stories, I definitely preferred the more political/analytical second half of the book. I especially enjoyed reading about how someone like Silvio Berlusconi could be as successful as he was.
This is a worthwhile read for any Italian-American (or Italian-Canadian...I appreciated that we were included among the group) or anyone interested in Italy in general.
Un libro bellissimo
February 2, 2020
As the grandson of Sicilian Immigrants, I've always felt a strong bond with my Italian-American grandparents, my uncles, aunts, cousins, my father. My mother is of Polish descent but she moved from Chicago to my Dad's hometown and so we were immersed in Italian-American life.
We are a very close family, and I might say a very successful one, boasting our share of doctors, dentists, lawyers, political activists, writers, lots of college graduates. And yet there is that old stigma that we hear about and can even feel when we visit Italy. A woman on a train from Milan to Venice told me that my ancestors were, "those people." There was a lot of contempt in the word, "those."
Luzzi's book explores those feelings and more, sets them in a context and history that I hadn't known even though I've been to Italy many times. He shares emotions that I've felt and experiences that I've known visiting Florence over and over again as he has. I've walking those sacred and profane streets. (Did you ever look into the faces of sculptures on the buildings there? Those guys are all scared, looking at each other in distrust? Is that what life was like during the golden age? Reading Machiavelli, it all makes sense.)
So My Two Italies is a disjointed, poetic, heartfelt, romantic memoir that helps me understand my feelings about myself and my family and our heritage much better. I'm grateful.
We are a very close family, and I might say a very successful one, boasting our share of doctors, dentists, lawyers, political activists, writers, lots of college graduates. And yet there is that old stigma that we hear about and can even feel when we visit Italy. A woman on a train from Milan to Venice told me that my ancestors were, "those people." There was a lot of contempt in the word, "those."
Luzzi's book explores those feelings and more, sets them in a context and history that I hadn't known even though I've been to Italy many times. He shares emotions that I've felt and experiences that I've known visiting Florence over and over again as he has. I've walking those sacred and profane streets. (Did you ever look into the faces of sculptures on the buildings there? Those guys are all scared, looking at each other in distrust? Is that what life was like during the golden age? Reading Machiavelli, it all makes sense.)
So My Two Italies is a disjointed, poetic, heartfelt, romantic memoir that helps me understand my feelings about myself and my family and our heritage much better. I'm grateful.
August 10, 2014
As a second generation Italian born in the USA, I was curious to read this first generation experience. Dr. Luzzie grew up in a household separated from his parents not only by a generation, but also by at least a century. In a forthright presentation, he examined his family experience with love, respect, and honesty. I found My Two Italies compelling. It is a deeply personal, and, I believe, courageous work. It peals back the Italian myths (both Italy and the USA view Italy through mythical lenses) and shows the reality. The memoir details Dr. Luzzi’s coming to terms with his family and in another context suggests that strong Italian family bonds help to explain Italy’s dysfunctional government. Reading this book was time well spent.
August 14, 2014
A Journey of Identity
I watched a short video on FB of Professor Luzzi discussing the reasons he wrote this book, and was quickly drawn to his story by the strong similarity in our Italian-American experience. I'm an Italian immigrant from Naples Italy, and understand the struggles of Southern Italians trying to adjust to the American life-style.
I think most Americans understand how difficult it must be for immigrants to adjust to a new American life style but what Professor Luzzi describes so well is the struggle for Italians to understand each other. Most Americans don't realize how different the cultures of Italy really are. Most second and third generation Italian-Americans don't understand the cultural differences themselves, and sadly many don't know what part of Italy their ancestors came from.
My Two Italies is not only a personal journey of coming to terms with Joseph Luzzi identity but a wonderful account of the history of a country that has given so much to the world. Professor Luzzi describes the differences of the North and South while the reader follows his personal journey of coming to terms with his Southern Italian identity.
This is a must read for all who wish to understand the complex Italian Culture. Bravo Professor Luzzi
I watched a short video on FB of Professor Luzzi discussing the reasons he wrote this book, and was quickly drawn to his story by the strong similarity in our Italian-American experience. I'm an Italian immigrant from Naples Italy, and understand the struggles of Southern Italians trying to adjust to the American life-style.
I think most Americans understand how difficult it must be for immigrants to adjust to a new American life style but what Professor Luzzi describes so well is the struggle for Italians to understand each other. Most Americans don't realize how different the cultures of Italy really are. Most second and third generation Italian-Americans don't understand the cultural differences themselves, and sadly many don't know what part of Italy their ancestors came from.
My Two Italies is not only a personal journey of coming to terms with Joseph Luzzi identity but a wonderful account of the history of a country that has given so much to the world. Professor Luzzi describes the differences of the North and South while the reader follows his personal journey of coming to terms with his Southern Italian identity.
This is a must read for all who wish to understand the complex Italian Culture. Bravo Professor Luzzi
May 30, 2017
As an Italian I try to understand why Prof. Luzzi stressed to much the poverty or "La miseria" of Calabria, maybe his target was to induce compassion in his reader, or maybe he wanted to show how far was he gone in his life starting very low. But italy is something else also, even if superficiality will get you only the "postcard" version.
Come italiana mi sono chiesta come mai l'autore non facesse che sottolineare lo stato di povertá o miseria come la chiama lui, della Calabria da cui sono emigrati i suoi genitori, magari il suo scopo era quello di muovere il lettore a compassione o magari mostrarci quanto successo aveva avuto nella vita partendo da cosí in basso. Ma l'Italia é anche qualcosa di diverso, chiaramente la superficialitá impedisce di andare oltre la versione da cartolina.
Come italiana mi sono chiesta come mai l'autore non facesse che sottolineare lo stato di povertá o miseria come la chiama lui, della Calabria da cui sono emigrati i suoi genitori, magari il suo scopo era quello di muovere il lettore a compassione o magari mostrarci quanto successo aveva avuto nella vita partendo da cosí in basso. Ma l'Italia é anche qualcosa di diverso, chiaramente la superficialitá impedisce di andare oltre la versione da cartolina.
July 23, 2018
After visiting Italy, this gives an interesting perspective. The author 's parents were born in Calabria, and in many ways never left the "old country." They lived their lives with "the misery."
Also includes an interesting perspective on Berlosconi. The two Italies are actually the "romantic" Italy of art and literature, and then the reality.
Also includes an interesting perspective on Berlosconi. The two Italies are actually the "romantic" Italy of art and literature, and then the reality.
October 11, 2014
From my beloved Public Library. Reconciling memories of the old country in an Italian - American family rings true to us young people now as ever. In our family we have come to peace with and relish the opportunities bequeathed from the old timers.
August 25, 2021
what a mess of writing. The author thanked his editors at the end - apparently they did nothing. The book did give me insight into my ex-husband and his weirdo Italian family. Now I understand why they behaved the way they did. Two Italies - very interesting.
September 2, 2014
I enjoyed reading this, feel I can relate to my mother-in-law on a different level since she was born in Sicily.
October 8, 2014
Realized I know next to nothing about my homeland heritage
April 6, 2024
This book strikes a few similarities to a few other child-of-Italian-immigrant books that I’ve read in the last several months, and though I can’t say that I liked this one any more or less than the others, I think that reading it helped to change my perspective a bit. Like the other authors, Luzzi touches on the struggle of being born and coming of age in the United States while having a sort of longing for the ancestral homeland. He details his parents’ struggle to “assimilate” to the American way of life despite having come here for a “better” one. Through his eyes, I learned with him (so to speak) that his parents didn’t come to America because they wanted to be American, the fled Italy because there was nothing left there for them. While so many descendants of Italian immigrants, myself included, tend to romanticize Italy, it was neither then (nor is its now) “una vera ‘La Dolce Vita.’”
Luzzi’s perspective is a bit different from the others I’ve read so far, as he decided to make a cultural study of Italy his life’s work. Each chapter told a story through the lens of other important lessons to be learned, mostly focusing on Italy’s troubled political history after its unification in the 1860s and the stark social and economical differences between the north and the south. Luzzi is himself a scholar of the Italian Humanities, and his prose illuminates the depth of “La misera” with illusions to classic literature, art, and history. He effectively juxtaposes the common vision of Italy as a cultural epicenter of the world with the reality of its poverty, political discord, and corruption - especially in the south and in Sicily. Most of us living in the U.S. with grandparents or great-grandparents who came from Italy don’t fully understand that the southern Italy our ancestors fled is not the romantic ideal we envision from seeing pictures of Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan. I’ve come to understand that the southern Italian and Sicilian immigrants who came to Castle Garden and Ellis Island in droves were peasant refugees with no other choices. We with the privilege of growing up American can romanticize the ancestral homeland all we want, but our ancestors fled for a reason, and not much has improved in some of those regions. Why else would small villages attempt to draw in foreign money with the promise of buying a home for next to nothing? The birthrate is dropping, and some areas of Italy are alarmingly close to extinction from abandonment.
So this is not going to stop me from pursuing dual citizenship by Jure Sanguinis, and I would someday still like to be an expat living La Dolce Vita somewhere on the coast of the Tyrrhenian or the Adriatic sea. I just need to take off the rose colored glasses and use the time that I have to learn more about what to expect. Like they say, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Luzzi’s perspective is a bit different from the others I’ve read so far, as he decided to make a cultural study of Italy his life’s work. Each chapter told a story through the lens of other important lessons to be learned, mostly focusing on Italy’s troubled political history after its unification in the 1860s and the stark social and economical differences between the north and the south. Luzzi is himself a scholar of the Italian Humanities, and his prose illuminates the depth of “La misera” with illusions to classic literature, art, and history. He effectively juxtaposes the common vision of Italy as a cultural epicenter of the world with the reality of its poverty, political discord, and corruption - especially in the south and in Sicily. Most of us living in the U.S. with grandparents or great-grandparents who came from Italy don’t fully understand that the southern Italy our ancestors fled is not the romantic ideal we envision from seeing pictures of Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan. I’ve come to understand that the southern Italian and Sicilian immigrants who came to Castle Garden and Ellis Island in droves were peasant refugees with no other choices. We with the privilege of growing up American can romanticize the ancestral homeland all we want, but our ancestors fled for a reason, and not much has improved in some of those regions. Why else would small villages attempt to draw in foreign money with the promise of buying a home for next to nothing? The birthrate is dropping, and some areas of Italy are alarmingly close to extinction from abandonment.
So this is not going to stop me from pursuing dual citizenship by Jure Sanguinis, and I would someday still like to be an expat living La Dolce Vita somewhere on the coast of the Tyrrhenian or the Adriatic sea. I just need to take off the rose colored glasses and use the time that I have to learn more about what to expect. Like they say, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
October 17, 2018
When I originally discovered this book, I thought I would give it at least a 3 star rating as my grandfather's parents emigrated from Calabria. While interesting at times, I found the references to The Godfather and The Sopranos (neither of which I watched) demeaning to Italians or those of us that are of Italian ancestry. My Italian ancestors emigrated to the US in the late 1800's and I was too young to have a conversation with my Great Grandmother, Carolina who was my only Italian born ancestor that was alive when I was born., about the conditions she left behind in Campania. It mustn't have been too bad, because they bought a multifamily home when they got to the US. My grandfather's parents had emigrated from Calabria to the US. They died many years before I was born. My grandfather, who was a first generation Italian-American, had returned to live in Calabria as a child, but returned to the US when he was 12. Sadly he died when I was a year old and I never had the opportunity to talk to him about his experience in Italy. Perhaps they did emigrate to escape "la miseria." I just never heard the term. I can relate to Joseph Luzzi's lunch time experiences when he took out his sandwich of a peppers and eggs frittata in the school cafeteria and had other students look aghast at the sandwich. While Luzzi's may have been cold and rubbery, my sandwich was cold, but not rubbery and it was delicious. Other students commented on my sandwich, but stopped short of making fun of it and I was so happy that I had a delicious sandwich and not peanut butter and marshmallow fluff or grape jelly. I could also relate to having a pet rabbit cooked for "rabbit in the wine" for our Santa Onofrio celebration. Unfortunately, my Great-aunt did not know that I had raised that particular rabbit or she never would have cooked him. I have never eaten rabbit again, even though I enjoyed rabbit in the wine up to that fateful day. I thought this book would have been about more of those types of personal experiences and less about Italian politics, The Godfather and the Sopranos.
April 5, 2024
2.5
As much as I enjoyed the autobiographical parts of this book (his parents’ story of immigration from Calabria and building a life in America, as well as his own journeys back to Italy), I was zoning out on some of the discussions of politics, history, and classical artists.
For the most part it felt like this book was trying to be too many things, making a lot of it repetitive and sounding like essays rather then an easily digestible book. At times his tone was a bit superior for my liking.
I wish he had include more of his family’s personal story given he even used a family photo as the cover art.
As much as I enjoyed the autobiographical parts of this book (his parents’ story of immigration from Calabria and building a life in America, as well as his own journeys back to Italy), I was zoning out on some of the discussions of politics, history, and classical artists.
For the most part it felt like this book was trying to be too many things, making a lot of it repetitive and sounding like essays rather then an easily digestible book. At times his tone was a bit superior for my liking.
I wish he had include more of his family’s personal story given he even used a family photo as the cover art.
June 9, 2020
As the grandson of immigrants from southern Italy who shared their home, I found myself nodding in agreement at many of Luzzi's observations about his family's struggle to bridge two cultural gaps, one with American society and the other with the Italy of high culture, literature and art. Like his feelings, the tone often shifts from personal memory to detached observation, to be expected from a career academic. Although our families' journeys are separated by nearly half a century, the sense of not quite belonging, and wondering if you ever will, remains the same.
September 6, 2022
My love affair with all things Italian continues. This offers a different perspective from an American perspective and the discovery of 'The Old Country'.
I am increasingly enjoying non-fiction and its never too late to learnnew things and about different people.
The background is in a part of italy I am not too familar with, Calabria. Also of an Italy of struggle and poverty.
Loved evert minute
I am increasingly enjoying non-fiction and its never too late to learnnew things and about different people.
The background is in a part of italy I am not too familar with, Calabria. Also of an Italy of struggle and poverty.
Loved evert minute
November 29, 2025
A good memoir that also reads like a summary of Italy’s cultural and political history from the beginning to recent times, as well as some points connected to Italian Americans. I enjoyed it a lot. At times, struggled for clarity due to lengthy and tangled sentence structures but eventually got what the author meant, especially after reading enough to see the author’s themes, and always felt intrigued by the content.
September 10, 2020
This was a terrific read! I love the author’s descriptions of life in the US as the child of Italian immigrants. The book is heart- warming, funny, sad- really enjoyable. I read it on the beach. I also love that Luzzi intersperses mini- lectures on various features of Italian history and culture.
May 7, 2021
Though not Italian, I have Italian friends both in Canada and Italy, and have spend 15 years exploring Italy’s 20 regions. As a result, I could definitely relate to the two worlds the author describes in vivid detail and enjoyed the journey he takes us on.
November 8, 2022
Amazing book to read after visiting Italy for the first time, such a contrast between Italy past and present, north and south, and the Italian American experience, thought provoking and personal on every level.
January 22, 2019
My family is also from up in the mountains of Calabria and I've never heard such a well written account of life there, the move to the US and struggles to establish and maintain life here.
Read
July 16, 2023Too many facts, not enough story for me. Reads more as non fiction instead of a memoir.
August 23, 2025
Didn't actually quite finish. It's written well, the subject just didn't quite catch my interest.
September 26, 2024
Joseph Luzzi is a professor of Italian literature at Bard College in New York State. Before starting this review, I want to inform you that I am not Italian American. Joseph Luzzi’s family memoir is called My Two Italies. The book was published in 2014. The book uses the story of Luzzi’s family to explore broader themes in Italian and Italian American identity. The book uses Luzzi’s family to explore themes in Italian culture, literature, and politics (as of 2014). The family dynamics of Luzzi were complex. Luzzi’s book is well written. The book has photographs and a section of notes. Luzzi’s parents were born in Calabria, Italy, and immigrated from Calabria in 1945 (Luzzi 7). A central theme of the book is the idea that Luzzi has lived in two Italies. Writer Mark Rotalla writes, “That of Calabria, his ancestral homeland, that of Florence, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, where his studies of art and literature took him, and that of America, where he was born” (Rotalla 2014). Luzzi is an expert on Dante, so Dante is mentioned many times in the book, especially in the chapter on Florence (Luzzi 163-186). In 1818, the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote there were two Italies (Rottalla 2014). Rotalla writes that Luzzi “contemplates two other Italies — the Italy north of Rome and that to the south. For centuries, the stereotype has persisted that Italians living north of Rome are cultured sophisticates, while those to the south are backward peasants” (Rotalla 2014). Luzzi uses this concept to explore “I am not an Italian American, but I thought Lizzi’s My Two Italies was a thoughtful book. I found the review by Mark Rottalla helpful in writing this ‘review.’
Works Cited:
Lewis, R.W.B. 2001. Dante: Penguin Lives. New York: Penguin Group. Kindle.
Rotalla, Mark. 2014, July 20. “An Elegant, Thoughtful Exploration Of Life In 'Two Italies'.” National Public Radio. Book Review: 'My Two Italies,' By Joseph Luzzi : NPR
Works Cited:
Lewis, R.W.B. 2001. Dante: Penguin Lives. New York: Penguin Group. Kindle.
Rotalla, Mark. 2014, July 20. “An Elegant, Thoughtful Exploration Of Life In 'Two Italies'.” National Public Radio. Book Review: 'My Two Italies,' By Joseph Luzzi : NPR
November 30, 2014
I’ve been enjoying some “technology free” days over the last couple weeks ... life is good! I’ve gotten to spend more time focusing on my daughter, reading books and enjoying life free from constant stimulus. My book reading rate has increased, but I haven’t reviewed them...
This was my favorite of the bunch! I would have given this book 5 stars, if the last couple chapters had been deleted. The author’s modern worldview intrudes on an otherwise outstanding book. I have a huge weakness for troubled Italian men, so this book was a glorious pleasure to read. I love old cultures and traditions. I was disappointed that the Catholic Church didn’t factor in more (apparently the author’s father didn’t practice). I LOVE cute old people who practice the faith.
The book was one of the shortest on my bookshelf, so I was happy to reach for it. I found the story about the rabbit disturbing, but it set the tone well. I didn’t understand the author’s aversion to eating meat, especially since his family clearly used every part of the animal out of necessity. The author did a good job of illustrating the hardship in his parent’s way of life, but I was still a little disappointed in his aversion to it. He had access to something other folks can only read about, but he didn’t seem to really appreciate it. He said he was “seduced and repulsed” by his genealogy. That got old after a bit.
I was a little surprised by the men’s council mentioned briefly. I thought Catholic-based societies always pushed to keep marriages together. It sounded almost Arabic to me - a group of men deciding how another man had to discipline his wife. That isn’t cool.
Reading this made me miss my childhood and the community I grew up in. The writing was provocative (in a good way) and beautiful. The author has the ability to make ordinary life seem extraordinary.
This was my favorite of the bunch! I would have given this book 5 stars, if the last couple chapters had been deleted. The author’s modern worldview intrudes on an otherwise outstanding book. I have a huge weakness for troubled Italian men, so this book was a glorious pleasure to read. I love old cultures and traditions. I was disappointed that the Catholic Church didn’t factor in more (apparently the author’s father didn’t practice). I LOVE cute old people who practice the faith.
The book was one of the shortest on my bookshelf, so I was happy to reach for it. I found the story about the rabbit disturbing, but it set the tone well. I didn’t understand the author’s aversion to eating meat, especially since his family clearly used every part of the animal out of necessity. The author did a good job of illustrating the hardship in his parent’s way of life, but I was still a little disappointed in his aversion to it. He had access to something other folks can only read about, but he didn’t seem to really appreciate it. He said he was “seduced and repulsed” by his genealogy. That got old after a bit.
I was a little surprised by the men’s council mentioned briefly. I thought Catholic-based societies always pushed to keep marriages together. It sounded almost Arabic to me - a group of men deciding how another man had to discipline his wife. That isn’t cool.
Reading this made me miss my childhood and the community I grew up in. The writing was provocative (in a good way) and beautiful. The author has the ability to make ordinary life seem extraordinary.
December 18, 2014
This was a very interesting and well-written book, a combination of memoir and cultural-political commentary, written by an American-born son of immigrants from Calabria (southern Italy). I heard him interviewed on the CBC and enjoyed the interview, so I ordered the book.
Though from a poor family, the author, through scholarships, went to Yale and became a professor of Italian literature. His many trips to Italy were to Florence - cultural centre of northern Italy.
Southern Italy is very different - the people look different (dark), the economy is worse (or was when his parents emigrated) and is looked down on by the cultivated northern Italians.
Meanwhile he, as an American (albeit of Italian extraction), always felt he was an outsider in Florence. When he finally visited his parents' village in Calabria, there everyone looked like him. Though he could barely speak their dialect.
His "two Italies" are both north/south, and American/Italian - as experienced by him (that's why MY two Italies). He is a good writer and really brings the various parts of HIS Italies alive.
Though from a poor family, the author, through scholarships, went to Yale and became a professor of Italian literature. His many trips to Italy were to Florence - cultural centre of northern Italy.
Southern Italy is very different - the people look different (dark), the economy is worse (or was when his parents emigrated) and is looked down on by the cultivated northern Italians.
Meanwhile he, as an American (albeit of Italian extraction), always felt he was an outsider in Florence. When he finally visited his parents' village in Calabria, there everyone looked like him. Though he could barely speak their dialect.
His "two Italies" are both north/south, and American/Italian - as experienced by him (that's why MY two Italies). He is a good writer and really brings the various parts of HIS Italies alive.
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