Summers in Supino: Becoming Italian
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Every summer Maria and her husband, Bob, went to their little house in the Italian village of Supino, and every year it was a new adventure. Only in Supino would you find a pizzeria in a sheep pasture, a seafood restaurant hidden in the woods, or an electrical cord draped from one balcony to the next so neighbours could share power. In Supino, they celebrate the first figs of the season; host watermelon, azalea, and artichoke festivals; and take pleasure in the magical view of the stars in the summer sky.
Written with humour and heart, Summers in Supino is Maria Coletta McLean’s memoir of these summers with Bob, as she becomes accustomed to the town her father grew up in and the peculiarities of the people who live there. Cousin Guido argues with their neighbour over who can plant a grapevine and therefore reap the harvest. Villagers debate whether one neighbour can trade the installation of some terra cotta tiles and the use of a pizza oven (he has yet to build) for the land beneath Bob and Maria’s patio. And as Maria comes to understand her connection to this wonderful place, Bob proposes they open a coffee bar on the piazza.
Full of wonderfully vivid stories of Italy, Summers in Supino also explores loss, grief, and the restorative power of community.
Maria Coletta McLean
Maria Coletta McLean is a Canadian-born writer of Italian ancestory. She collected and contributed to MAMA MIA! Good Italian Girls Talk Back (ECW, 2004). MY FATHER CAME FROM ITALY (Raincoast Books, 2000) is a daughter's loving account of reclaiming her aged father's dignity by returning to his home village of Supino.
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Reviews for Summers in Supino
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This surprising memoir brings much more than travel, food, and scenery. I expected it would be about another American couple who decided to go back to the old country and how they dealt with the language and culture differences and the difficulties they occasioned. Instead, I got a warm, loving, bittersweet story of a Canadian couple returning to an Italian home they've had for years, and the growing affection they felt for the village and its people: an affection that was obviously reciprocated.Maria Coletta McLean's father came to Canada from the village of Supino. When she married Bob McLean, she and her Italian family embarked on a mission to help Bob become Italian. Later, she and Bob purchased a small home in Supino to take her father home again before he died. Her earlier book " My Father Came from Italy" published in 2011, gives the backfill. However, I didn't feel I needed to read the earlier one to enjoy this one.The heart-warming stories of how the Canadians (the becoming Italians) learn the pace of life in this tiny village, how to deal with electric companies, narrow streets, bathrooms that are only accessible by going outside and then coming in another door, village shopping, festas, and an entire cast of lovable, eccentric (to our eyes) characters who guide them on the journey of acculturation. Each summer, they stay a little longer, and each year the pull of staying permanently grows stronger. Bob, who runs a coffee roasting business in Toronto, finally decides he wants to open a coffee shop in the village.When they return to Toronto to begin preparations for this momentous step, the story takes an unexpected and heart-stopping twist. Maria Coletta McLean's beautiful tribute to her husband, her family (both Canadian and Italian) is much more than a summer read. It's a memoir of love, loss and comfort. A definite cut above the average travel diaglogue.