Una Bambolina in Italia

Recently, while reading The Italians by Luigi Barzini, I realized I am one, among many pilgrims, who has embarked upon the Italian voyage. Traversing across the Atlantic with my American parents, I too have been entranced by its charms. I didn’t realize at the time the change that was taking place inside me. I was barely eight years old and through the eyes of an American child--or bambolina as the locals called me while greedily grasping my fat cheeks between their fingers--was both strange and new. My parents experienced a type of culture shock that I was both aware of, but not truly affected by. I was young, flexible, malleable, impressionable, and therefore able to embrace Italian culture in a way my parents couldn’t. I'm thirty-nine now and my memory is not as sharp as it was, but Barzini’s book brought back a wave of memories long forgotten. This blog is the discovery of the Italy I know in my memory, and the Italy I continue to discover.