Who doesn’t like a wine tasting? A friend recently invited me to a degustazione di vini at a school in Villa San Giovanni, Calabria, and I jumped at the opportunity to sample wines from twenty different Calabrian producers. Attempting to taste even a percentage of the wines on offer that evening would be a challenge, but I was certainly more …
Swimming the Strait of Messina: Elio Musco and His Psychology of Youth
“Non mollare.” — Don’t give up. As we ring in the New Year with resolutions full of challenge and optimism, the advice of an octogenarian who has swum the Strait of Messina 23 times is as good as it gets. Add to that, he was 49 years old when he attempted it for the first time. Reggio Calabria native Elio …
Meeting Students in Villa San Giovanni
AN OLD CUSTOM It was a little later than I had wanted to arrive, but there were still a good ten minutes before the presentation was to begin. Rounding the hallway, I could see the aula magna or assembly hall, full of students, waiting rather patiently, I thought, for a school event. I entered through the doors in front with …
International Prize for My Book
CALABRIA: THE OTHER ITALY SUBMISSION I could never have imagined, seven years ago, as I made my way down to the southern extremity of the Italian peninsula, stepping off the train in Locri to teach English, that I would one day write a book about my experiences. And I never would have dreamed that my words would be read and …