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I fichi rubati e altre avventure in Calabria
Come un viaggiatore del grand tour, ne i “Fichi Rubati”, Mark Rotella, italo-americano di terza generazione, affronta un viaggio, dal Pollino allo Stretto, alla scoperta di quella che continua ad essere una delle meno conosciute regioni d’Italia: la Calabria. partendo da Gimigliano, città natale dei suoi nonni paterni e in compagnia del suo mentore Giuseppe, Rotella visita città, paesi, santuari, musei. riscopre tradizioni che si vanno perdendo e annota con acume le contraddizioni che si celano dietro la selvaggia bellezza della regione. Rotella non è però solo un turista straniero curioso. Il viaggio in Calabria è per lui soprattutto un viaggio all’interno della propria anima e delle proprie radici, un viaggio di riscoperta di quella italianità che spesso in forme meticce caratterizza gli italiani emigrati in America.
407 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
September 27, 2020
This is the story of Mark Rotella’s journey into the world of his paternal grandparents, Gimigliano, Calabria, Italy, which they left in the 1930’s. Italy’s tourists typically visit Venice, Rome, Florence and recently, the Amalfi coast. If they know about Calabria, it is low on their list. Rotella shows how the heel, arch and toe of Italy are worth a look.
Upon arriving in Gimigliano, Rotella met Guiseppe Critelli, who turned out to be a perfect tour guide. As a photographer and maker of post cards, he knew the region well. Combining business with pleasure, he drove Rotella to his post card distribution spots.
Outside of Gimigliano there is a lot to see. There are distinctive churches, art works, Greek villages, Roman ruins, beaches and marinas. There are universities – some very modern – museums, galleries, and knock only book stores. There are scenic mountains, villages and cities with a blend of medieval and modern architecture. Fig trees feature as do idioms about them. The landscape includes olive groves, chestnut trees and cacti. Along with the beaches and marinas, surprisingly, there are ski resorts.
Some locations prompt short narratives on southern Italy’s history and linguistic diversity. There are Greek and Albanian communities. Many people have relatives in the US which is often merged with Canada in their thinking. Throughout – there is good food… good wine… good food… good wine.
While he grew up in Connecticut and Florida, in Gimigliano, Rotella experiences the familiar culture of his childhood. Communication is easy. He learned Italian in college, but speaks the Gimigliani dialect. He shows how the town’s relative isolation has preserved its values and life style..
He describes everyday conversations, food preparation, family meals. He meets Rotella’s to whom he is or must be related. He relates the stories such as those of his grandmother’s courtship, how a boil was healed and how a lamb was prepared (butchered) on a kitchen table. He participates in the Easter Festival and the-region wide Madonna di Porto procession where this town of 3,000 people hosts 20,000.
I learned a lot about Gimigliano from this book. Like Mark Rotella, my paternal grandparents emigrated from there to the US. The everyday conversations, food and situations rang across time in meaning for me. Most readers might not appreciate the subtlety of this, but it brought back memories for me.
This book fills the void of travel literature for the region. While it is a travelog, Rotella has assembled a lot of material from many sources so adding an index and footnotes would add to its value. I recommend it for those of us in the “Gimigliano diaspora” – a group now larger than the town. For others, I suggest Rotella update this is a 2003 book. Rotella should read Theroux and the other great travel writers, re-trace his steps and bring this book up to date. With his eye, ability to speak in dialect and background in Calabria's history, he could produce a definitive work.
Upon arriving in Gimigliano, Rotella met Guiseppe Critelli, who turned out to be a perfect tour guide. As a photographer and maker of post cards, he knew the region well. Combining business with pleasure, he drove Rotella to his post card distribution spots.
Outside of Gimigliano there is a lot to see. There are distinctive churches, art works, Greek villages, Roman ruins, beaches and marinas. There are universities – some very modern – museums, galleries, and knock only book stores. There are scenic mountains, villages and cities with a blend of medieval and modern architecture. Fig trees feature as do idioms about them. The landscape includes olive groves, chestnut trees and cacti. Along with the beaches and marinas, surprisingly, there are ski resorts.
Some locations prompt short narratives on southern Italy’s history and linguistic diversity. There are Greek and Albanian communities. Many people have relatives in the US which is often merged with Canada in their thinking. Throughout – there is good food… good wine… good food… good wine.
While he grew up in Connecticut and Florida, in Gimigliano, Rotella experiences the familiar culture of his childhood. Communication is easy. He learned Italian in college, but speaks the Gimigliani dialect. He shows how the town’s relative isolation has preserved its values and life style..
He describes everyday conversations, food preparation, family meals. He meets Rotella’s to whom he is or must be related. He relates the stories such as those of his grandmother’s courtship, how a boil was healed and how a lamb was prepared (butchered) on a kitchen table. He participates in the Easter Festival and the-region wide Madonna di Porto procession where this town of 3,000 people hosts 20,000.
I learned a lot about Gimigliano from this book. Like Mark Rotella, my paternal grandparents emigrated from there to the US. The everyday conversations, food and situations rang across time in meaning for me. Most readers might not appreciate the subtlety of this, but it brought back memories for me.
This book fills the void of travel literature for the region. While it is a travelog, Rotella has assembled a lot of material from many sources so adding an index and footnotes would add to its value. I recommend it for those of us in the “Gimigliano diaspora” – a group now larger than the town. For others, I suggest Rotella update this is a 2003 book. Rotella should read Theroux and the other great travel writers, re-trace his steps and bring this book up to date. With his eye, ability to speak in dialect and background in Calabria's history, he could produce a definitive work.
March 24, 2021
Few are likely to be riveted by this dull, largely humorless travel book. The author does a decent job of evoking the close-knit culture of Calabria, but I found the stories boring and the pace plodding. That said, there's not much travel writing specifically focused on this region of Italy - so if you're of Italian-American heritage and want to learn more about Calabria, you could do worse as a place to start.
April 10, 2011
There is NOTHING written about Calabria! I read travel books constantly and this is the first one I've run across. And now I want to read more, more, more about the area! If you're tired of Tuscan sun and Provence tales, you'll enjoy this memoir/travel book.
May 21, 2015
Wandering through Calabria with Mark Rotella
was a lovely experience. Rotella visited Calabria,
located in the toe of the boot of Italy for those
like me who might have missed this in school,
several times, to connect with family who were
originally from this area.
My Italian roots were ripped from soil in the northern
part of the country; though I was unaware of this,
there is apparently quite a bit of animosity between
north and south in Italy, with the south, including
Calabria, playing the role of poorer, uglier sister.
Rotella finds much to love in the south, including
the people who've always been tied to the land;
the beauty of the land with its mountains and oceans;
and the produce, that is, the oranges and the olives
and the incredible figs. Rotella has a nice way of
telling a story. I enjoyed this visit to Calabria.
Thank you again, kind BCer, watchcat, for sending
me on my loveliest vacation this year! :-)
was a lovely experience. Rotella visited Calabria,
located in the toe of the boot of Italy for those
like me who might have missed this in school,
several times, to connect with family who were
originally from this area.
My Italian roots were ripped from soil in the northern
part of the country; though I was unaware of this,
there is apparently quite a bit of animosity between
north and south in Italy, with the south, including
Calabria, playing the role of poorer, uglier sister.
Rotella finds much to love in the south, including
the people who've always been tied to the land;
the beauty of the land with its mountains and oceans;
and the produce, that is, the oranges and the olives
and the incredible figs. Rotella has a nice way of
telling a story. I enjoyed this visit to Calabria.
Thank you again, kind BCer, watchcat, for sending
me on my loveliest vacation this year! :-)
October 1, 2012
What more can you say about a book with gorgeous writing describing a gorgeous location? If you're strapped for cash (like me) and can't go traveling as far and as frequently as you'd like, read this book and let passages like this transport you:
"...The cogwheel train pulled us up the mountain, then crawled along the ridges of cliffs. Below, veins of nearly dried-up streams lined the valleys. Dust and smoke from the diesel engine funneled in through the open windows. We passed in and out of tunnels cut through the mountains, and each burst of sunlight as we exited a tunnel offered an endless view of mountaintops along the horizon. After twenty minutes, the train veered around the mountainside, its sheer cliff dropping to the left, and I spotted a tiny village on a peak even further above. It was a cluster of yellow and cream-colored houses with red terra-cotta roofs. It looked like the tiny archetypal village in the distant background of a fresco.
"That's it," my father said. "That's Gimigliano. Jesus, it's exactly as I remember it."
Lovely.
"...The cogwheel train pulled us up the mountain, then crawled along the ridges of cliffs. Below, veins of nearly dried-up streams lined the valleys. Dust and smoke from the diesel engine funneled in through the open windows. We passed in and out of tunnels cut through the mountains, and each burst of sunlight as we exited a tunnel offered an endless view of mountaintops along the horizon. After twenty minutes, the train veered around the mountainside, its sheer cliff dropping to the left, and I spotted a tiny village on a peak even further above. It was a cluster of yellow and cream-colored houses with red terra-cotta roofs. It looked like the tiny archetypal village in the distant background of a fresco.
"That's it," my father said. "That's Gimigliano. Jesus, it's exactly as I remember it."
Lovely.
May 29, 2019
This book was very interesting for the most part! Beautiful descriptions of the places he went to!
I went to Italy last summer and visited Calabria (my fathers father if from Gimigliano!), so it was very neat to see(read about) Mark going to some of the same places I went when I visited!
I originally thought the book was going to be of Calabrese folk tales, etc. but I’m glad that it wasn’t— and it was better than that.
I’m a big history buff, so it was interesting to me to learn about Calabria’s history and culture, in addition to Mark’s travel experiences!
I gave only 4 stars because towards the end of the book, it started to become a little dry, and would loose my interest.
I went to Italy last summer and visited Calabria (my fathers father if from Gimigliano!), so it was very neat to see(read about) Mark going to some of the same places I went when I visited!
I originally thought the book was going to be of Calabrese folk tales, etc. but I’m glad that it wasn’t— and it was better than that.
I’m a big history buff, so it was interesting to me to learn about Calabria’s history and culture, in addition to Mark’s travel experiences!
I gave only 4 stars because towards the end of the book, it started to become a little dry, and would loose my interest.
February 11, 2011
Interesting to read this non-fiction description of Calabria, in southern Italy. My husband's father and grandparents are from here and we actually visited the villages of Tropea and Canola in 1994. Strong descriptions of the limited economy, of local foodlore and customs, blend of pagan traditions with Catholicism. Good companion reading to Gay Talese's Unto the Sons.
May 4, 2010
not the best or most exciting travel log, but rotella does get into the spirit of things traveling around and showing us his homeland of calabria. i want to go! plus the last 10 pages made me cry. good job marco
January 24, 2016
When reading this book, I was with Mark Rotella on the roads. After reading it, I just can't wait to go back to Italy, Calabria and Puglia. I'd recommend to anyone with ancestors from there, a great way to learn about the real Calabria.
June 7, 2022
Slow, repetitive and not what I hoped for. At times his descriptions of the places and people of Calabria could be insulting and I felt like while he appreciated some parts of the region, he looked down upon others. Overall, a long and lack luster read.
November 2, 2018
It's fine. He talks about food, but he's not a foodie. He sort of talks about his family, but you never feel like there was real insight.
January 11, 2025
Apparently there aren't many books about Calabria, the province that makes up the 'toe' of the famous 'boot' of Italy. Sicily, Tuscany, Roma, Venice and Lombardy have endless guides and stories about them but Calabria, well no. But this labor of love from Mark Rotella does a fine job in describing the place through the prism of his own family history and by driving around with a guy named Giuseppe, eating, drinking, talking and sort of sightseeing. There is some discussion of the rich history of the region (Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Spaniards, Aragonese, French, Albanians, Italians from the north and others all routed about at various periods) Garibaldi even lost a battle there. But the history it is not the strongest point of the book. I enjoyed the several references from Homer's Odyssey and learned that Scylla and Charybdis 'resided' at Messina strait that divides Calabria from Sicily. Apparently, there are still some Greek (and Albanian) speaking areas in a few remote mountain fastnesses. Nor is there much detail on the natural history of the region other than random mentions of the frequent earthquakes and a brief reference to one of largest landslide sites (the Colella landslide) in Europe near the town of Roccaforte. He does mention the spectacular geography in general with incredibly complex terrain and gorgeous bodies of water (Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas) on either side of the peninsula.
The focus is on the people, food, the social landscape and his complex and somewhat bewildering family ties in his father's hometown of Gimigliano. Frequent mention is made of the mafia and its connections to Calabria but it is sort of shadow character with little detail, unlike some of what I have read in books on Sicily. Overall, it is a bit of slow going at times but ultimately rewarding and I would recommend it to anyone contemplating travel there (which I hope might be me). 3.5 stars rounded down due to being a bit dated for a travel book (2003) and losing me a bit on his family ruminations. In fairness it is as much a memoir as a 'travel' book and I'd love to see him do an update!
The focus is on the people, food, the social landscape and his complex and somewhat bewildering family ties in his father's hometown of Gimigliano. Frequent mention is made of the mafia and its connections to Calabria but it is sort of shadow character with little detail, unlike some of what I have read in books on Sicily. Overall, it is a bit of slow going at times but ultimately rewarding and I would recommend it to anyone contemplating travel there (which I hope might be me). 3.5 stars rounded down due to being a bit dated for a travel book (2003) and losing me a bit on his family ruminations. In fairness it is as much a memoir as a 'travel' book and I'd love to see him do an update!
April 2, 2025
“He says everyone in the U. S. knows about Tuscany and Rome and even Sicily, but no one, no one knows about Calabria.” [p128] It's the Italian boot's toe tip. Rotella, born in the U.S., returns to the area circa 1999. He meets and travels the area's hill towns with a postcard merchant intimately familiar with things Calabrian and travels with him on his route. He learns how to steal a fig without committing a crime. They travel narrow, one-lane and two-lane unpaved roads. Lackadaisical it all seems. No hurry. Also, one could stock a gourmet shop with grows along the road from Capo Rizzuto to Crotone. Since Rotella is a grandson of Calabrian immigrants, he is welcomed everywhere. (A regular tourist would likely not have such close experiences.) “You can't get a bad meal in Italy as long as you stay away from the tourist sites.” My favorite chapter depicts his visit to Cosenza, a university town. The map at the book's start is woefully incomplete; many places mentioned in the text are missing
August 26, 2017
I am currently going through my dad's bookshelves and either finishing books he never did (I find a lot of bookmarks halfway through his books) or reading some of his favourites. My dad was such an avid reader it is so amazing to go through his bookshelves and select so many interesting titles. This was among his collection of Italian literature and I loved finding an inscription written to him inside. I loved reading this book. It was the perfect summer novel and was read on the beach at Georgian Bay in the sun. Reading this book always made me starving because of all of the Italian food described so it was amazing to read this on a beach followed with a large cottage breakfast of artichokes, sundried tomatoes, paninis dripping with cheese, chunks of sharp cheddar, bocconcini, slices of brie, potato salad, seed burgers, tofu cutlets, bounty bars,pringles, ruffles, danish donuts, hard boiled eggs, hummus, carrots and big glasses of grapefruit juice. I love being Italian.
March 26, 2025
I started reading this book two years ago, but when I moved out of my dorm, the book got lost before I finished it. I found it recently and decided I need to finish it (mostly because I love Mark and partially because I'm trying to finish all of my Goodreads current reads). I just finished this book and oh my goodness it was amazing. I truly felt like I was standing next to Mark the entire time he was in Calabria. I love the little small history lessons as he spoke about a town or a monument. I especially love how the book ends with the feast of Madonna di Porto. In my small town in Sicily, we have our own apparition of Madonna we celebrate (Madonna della Lavina) and Mark captured the emotions perfectly. For those who know Mark, the book perfectly captures how he speaks which made me love it even more. Auguri Mark!!
June 10, 2018
I only finished this book because it would count against my goal this year and it wasn't actively bad. I just was bored. Which is probably why this book took ages to read.
Perhaps because so much of this book was about his trying to reconnect with his roots, and then it didn't really feel like put any effort into the relationships that were presented to him. Nobody really gets a personality in the book, just a couple of caricatures, and the occasional guilt where people have made plans on activities to do with him and he tells them the night before that he is going off to do something else with some new friends he just met.
Perhaps because so much of this book was about his trying to reconnect with his roots, and then it didn't really feel like put any effort into the relationships that were presented to him. Nobody really gets a personality in the book, just a couple of caricatures, and the occasional guilt where people have made plans on activities to do with him and he tells them the night before that he is going off to do something else with some new friends he just met.
December 28, 2021
Initially I bought this book thinking it was a fiction but was concerned when I found out it was a travelogue, thinking it would be too boring to finish. However the book is so beautifully written and so detailed, it was so difficult for me to put it down until I finished reading it. Also, the person who read it after I passed it on told me he enjoyed reading it as much as I did. By the way, the book is written by a second generation Italian American, who gets curious about where his grandparents came from in Italy and decides to find their living relatives from his grandparent’s village. The book is about the history, culture, and language of the area.
August 18, 2018
I picked this up because I did an overseas summer program, and was in a group that spent a month with families in Calabria. This brought back good memories of that summer, and extended my knowledge about both the places I stayed, those I visited and taught me more about the region as a whole. Wonderful travelogue book! Highly recommend to native Italians living elsewhere, or those who know Italy from previous visits and want to learn more.
November 11, 2018
When the author finally stops by to see his aunt, she lightly scolds him for having taken so long. I think the reader must feel the same here. For a book about rediscovering his family lineage in southern Italy, it is a little light on the family. Still it's an interesting read about a portion of Italy rarely talked about in the tourism press.
May 21, 2019
Loved the way this book took me inside the locations and culture of Calabria, giving me a feeling for the area from which so many immigrated to America. I especially enjoyed the scene the author relates where his father views the author's Florida garden. After seeing the wide variety of things growing there asks, but Marco, where are the tomatoes?
January 7, 2020
What can I say? I am of Calabrian ancestry myself. So, of course, I loved this book. The author really made you feel like you were there. I learned things that I never could have learned from my relatives about this region of Italy. A must read for anyone with Calabrian blood.
December 9, 2023
I mostly enjoyed the mentions of food and snippets of history in this book but it was a little slow and repetitive so that all of the places visited seemed to blend together. The descriptions could have been more detailed to really bring the locations, characters and food alive.
February 26, 2018
Incredibly well written, interesting travelogue of Southern Italy. I highly recommend it.
May 2, 2018
A good book, interesting story and well written aside from some language and unnecessary crudity.
June 4, 2019
So many great little tidbits about Italian culture in Calabria. If you have been researching life in this southern Italian area, Rotella will add to your knowledge while telling a great little story.
July 9, 2020
Being from Calabria, this book was a sweet reading
March 10, 2022
One of the few books written about Calabria, a region of Italy that is often totally ignored.
September 6, 2019
Though it did help me better understand Calabria (a goal in reading it), I was disappointed that there wasn't much about the food. With "figs" in the title, and considering how important food and meals are to Italians in general, I expected more insight into this. Lots of detail about religion and religious ceremony -- which of course is also important to Italian culture -- but for whatever reason he seemed to gloss over what I'd consider to be the true soul of any Italian region (food & wine).
May 16, 2016
I think this is the first book I have read about Italy that does not focus on Tuscany or Rome. Mark Rotella decided to return to the small village in Calabria where his paternal grandparents came from. He discovered many relatives he didn't know about. At the same time he learned about his Italian heritage and how it differed from growing up Italian-American. I found it interesting that most Italian-Americans came trace their roots back to southern Italy.
Rotella mentions his attempts to gain Italian citizenship and the obstacles he encountered. Eventually he realized that he would never be truly accepted because he wasn't born and raised on Calabrese soil. This made me think about my German heritage (both of my grandmothers were from southern Germany) and how it was discouraged in America. It's rather sad that we push immigrants to ditch their customs and adopt American culture.
Rotella mentions his attempts to gain Italian citizenship and the obstacles he encountered. Eventually he realized that he would never be truly accepted because he wasn't born and raised on Calabrese soil. This made me think about my German heritage (both of my grandmothers were from southern Germany) and how it was discouraged in America. It's rather sad that we push immigrants to ditch their customs and adopt American culture.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews