Calabrisella Mia

It’ been a while since I’ve done a post for my “5 Questions With….” series. And, so I’m super pleased to be bringing it back with Grazia Ietto-Gillies, the author of By The Olive Groves: A Calabrian Childhood.

Grazia Ietto-Gillies was born in a small town in the Aspromonte mountains of Calabria called Delianuova. She spent the first 10 years of her life growing up in this town, living through World War II, and growing up during a period of economic hardship and  mafia presence. But, even with all of this, we read about a young girl with a simple life that is equally rich with culture and tradition, all of which are centered around family and food.  Her family moves to Rome in 1950 and she eventually settles into adult life in England. Throughout these transitions, we are taken through all her feelings from detachment from the “norm” to adjusting to life in these new and uniquely diverse places.

Being the daughter of an Italian immigrant, I found myself completely enamored with Grazia’s stories, reminiscent of many of the tales I’ve heard told by my relatives throughout my life.  Grazia’s writing style is so witty and fun and instantly transports you to the streets of her youth and a time when children were raised by the community, everyone had a role which came with a strict code of conduct and people were more often than not only known by their nickname.

This book is even more enriching with its numerous traditional family recipes that played a role in her upbringing. If you have Calabrian origins, or you are an Italian foodie, you will absolutely appreciate the variety or simple and wholesome foods that were and still are a part of the Calabrian culture.

So let’s get to know Grazia Ietto-Gillies a bit better, shall we?

What are some of the most important lessons you’ve taken away with you from Delianuova that have helped you in your adult life in England?

There are many because there are many aspects of life in Delianuova in the years after WWII. First, I would say the importance of family ties and support. I grew up within the network of two large families on my mother’s and father’s sides. This is a positive that has remained with me throughout my life wherever I went and lived. From the point of view of us children there was the great advantage of freedom of movement in a small town where there were hardly any cars and where everybody knew us and was ready to help a child in trouble.

But there are also positive lessons learned from the negatives of my childhood. I later learned how wonderful it can be to have an education and master languages, culture, mathematics and yes…economics. Among the negatives were the poor economic conditions and how wonderful financial improvement could be in spite of the many problems it brings with it. Of course, I was not aware that we were poor; after all we were better off than many, many of Delianuova’s inhabitants though I knew that some families were very rich and lived in great palazzi in town or in Reggio.  After the family moved to Rome in 1950s the comparison between conditions in the capital and those in Delianuova and the reasons behind them may have – unconsciously – sown the seeds of my later interest in economics.

How important is it to you to pass the Calabrian traditions onto your children and future generations?

Very important indeed. I have always talked to my son, Marco, about my extended family and about life in Delianuova. Donald, Marco and I visited the town together years ago. I now talk to Marco’s children Penelope and Daniel – 9 and 7.5 years old – about it. They live not far from us in South London and the importance of family values are already with them. And of course…I cook Calabrian food for them; one of the best ways to express family values!

This is not your first book, you’ve also published academic books on economics and although you do touch on the economic and social issues of the time, what made you decide to write this memoir which has more of a literary style of writing?

In 1975 and 1976 two major events happened in my life. My son was born and six months later while we were in Rome proudly showing our baby to the extended family, my father died unexpectedly. When back in London the pain was, at times, unbearable. A few months later I started having flashbacks of episodes and anecdotes of my childhood in Calabria. Each one would stay with me for days and days and only leave me alone when I wrote it down. A new one surfaced. When I retired, years later I had a huge file filled with scribbled notes and set to work about what to do with them.

I now think that behind this process there is the fact that my life has enfolded in a variety of environments very different socially, economically and culturally. These differences may have unleashed feelings of ‘disconnect’ and displacement that led to the ‘need’ to express them in writing. These are feeling quite common in today’s world when many people move around and end up in different countries and cultures. It was less common in my youth.

Regarding the literary nature of the work, yes, it is different from my economics writings though those works gave me familiarity with writing in English. I have been used to read literary works for many years. I have learned a lot in this from my husband and his family.  I have to say that I was also greatly helped by turning a negative into a positive. I have had several illnesses throughout my life. Long convalescence periods…help the literary curious mind!

I’m sure you’ll agree that food is a huge part of Italian culture and you share a number of your mother’s recipes – Do you have a favourite? Do you have a specialty of your own?

Yes, definitely food and meals are one of the ways of binding the family together. We always have meals together, particularly dinner. No TV in our kitchen and dining room. I cook manly Italian  meals and in some I use Calabrese recipes as well as ‘oregano and peperoncino calabresi’ brought to me when we visit Rome from one of my 50 (yes, fifty!) first cousins. My brother and sister and their families  as well as most of my extended family now live in Rome though I still have many relatives in Delianuova.

My favorite Calabrese  dishes? Melanzane ripiene; pasta e fagioli. I should add that I also cook, occasionally, British style meals. Traditional British cuisine was good; it just got worse through the decades. I learned some recipes from Ross my Scottish mother–in-law who was a good provider of family meals like my mother was at the other end of Europe.

In your opinion, why should people consider visiting Calabria when travelling to Italy?

For its natural beauty, beaches, mountains, small towns; its fantastic food; the generosity and good humor of its people and for its long, long history on which many cultural artifacts remain: from the Greeks to the Romans, the Normans, the Spaniards. They and many others went to Calabria and left their mark.

If you would like to order a copy of this book, you can purchase a copy of the book at Amazon.

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Thank you so much Grazia! It was a pleasure reading your book and it’s been wonderful getting to know you!

You can find out more about Grazia Ietto-Gillies by visiting:
Official Website – https://graziaiettogillies.wordpress.com/

Check out my other “5 Questions With…”:
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5 Questions With… Anna of La Dolce Vita di Pizzo Visitor Guide in Calabria
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5 Questions With… Johnny Ward of Aspiring Backpacker and One Step 4ward
5 Questions With… Jonny Blair of Don’t Stop Living – A Lifestyle of Travel
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