Rating: 
Summary: Bridging the Gap
Review: Most Italian travel and culture books focus on Italian customs and the way visitors react to them. Paolicelli's book is about both, and more. The author recounts his search for cultural roots through the dual perspectives of a second-generation Italian-Americ. But he also has the good sense to let his subjects tell their own stories. The book is part memoir, part oral history. No book has taught me more about the simple but sustaining strengths my grandparents brought to America from Southern Italy almost a century ago than UNDER THE SOUTHERN SKY. I feel I'm reading a chapter in my own family history in the following lines, which the author quotes from one of his Italian friends: "They went to America without formal education, without any wealth or influence, but they carried with them over two thousand years of knowledge of culture and of people. And they thrived. They knew the stories of mankind.""Southern Sky" complements the author's first book, DANCES WITH LUIGI, but it doesn't repeat it. Anyone interested in exploring family and cultural origins will enjoy both books.
Rating:
Summary: Bridging the Gap
Review: Most Italian travel and culture books focus on Italian customs and the way visitors react to them. Paolicelli's book is about both, and more. The author recounts his search for cultural roots through the dual perspectives of a second-generation Italian-Americ. But he also has the good sense to let his subjects tell their own stories. The book is part memoir, part oral history. No book has taught me more about the simple but sustaining strengths my grandparents brought to America from Southern Italy almost a century ago than UNDER THE SOUTHERN SKY. I feel I'm reading a chapter in my own family history in the following lines, which the author quotes from one of his Italian friends: "They went to America without formal education, without any wealth or influence, but they carried with them over two thousand years of knowledge of culture and of people. And they thrived. They knew the stories of mankind." "Southern Sky" complements the author's first book, DANCES WITH LUIGI, but it doesn't repeat it. Anyone interested in exploring family and cultural origins will enjoy both books.
Rating: 
Summary: Where is Abruzzo????
Review: Mr Paolicelli needs to understand the geographical location and history of Italy before he ventures to write another book on the subject. Although, the region of Abruzzo has had political connections to the South of Italy, its location is in the CENTRAL PART OF ITALY. In fact Abruzzo during and after WWII has has had stronger ties to the North and Central part of Italy then the South. Thank You.
Rating:
Summary: Storia Italiana
Review: Paul Paolicelli's reprise of Dances With Luigi is an eloquent and articulate series of vignettes that explain historically and culturally why 25% of Southern Italians immigrated to North and South America around the turn of the 20th century. He explains the origins of the values and attitudes that I saw in my Nonni, my parents and the people that lived around us. Thanks to Paul's research into the psyche of the Umbriana, the Abruzzese and Molisiana, Campanese, Apulese, Basilicatese, Calabrese and Siciliana I now understand and appreciate the essence of the stock from which I am bred. While I may have always appreciated my heritage, I have not understood it as I do now. This evocative book was written from the heart and will stir your memory and your senses.
Rating: 
Summary: Under the Southern Sun
Review: Paul's latest book continues his soulful journey that began with his book of discovery, "Dances With Luigi." As I read through this book, I felt as if I'd been lifted physically and transported to the scenes and times Paul writes about with such excitement. "Southern Sun" is a passionate retelling of the lifes of our ancestors. Stories that history books have missed or ignored but need telling none-the-less. My grandparents and great grandparents came from villages near Cosenza, in Calabria,Italy. I'll never know all the reasons why they chose to leave, just a few bits and pieces. Through Paul's words I can now fill in some of the blanks and at least understand the economic challenges and attitudes that must have drove them to make such a courageous decision. If you love the Italian culture and seek to understand and preserve it, this is a book to be read and shared with others.
Paul writes with a sense of wonder and zeal for every new bit of discovery he makes. He has created a road map for my own journey of discovery soon to be made when I follow his lead and retrace my family's roots. Roots that stretch back to Italy and were originally nourished under the southern sun. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: A Journey Continues
Review: Paul's latest book continues his soulful journey that began with his book of discovery, "Dances With Luigi." As I read through this book, I felt as if I'd been lifted physically and transported to the scenes and times Paul writes about with such excitement. "Southern Sun" is a passionate retelling of the lifes of our ancestors. Stories that history books have missed or ignored but need telling none-the-less. My grandparents and great grandparents came from villages near Cosenza, in Calabria,Italy. I'll never know all the reasons why they chose to leave, just a few bits and pieces. Through Paul's words I can now fill in some of the blanks and at least understand the economic challenges and attitudes that must have drove them to make such a courageous decision. If you love the Italian culture and seek to understand and preserve it, this is a book to be read and shared with others.
Paul writes with a sense of wonder and zeal for every new bit of discovery he makes. He has created a road map for my own journey of discovery soon to be made when I follow his lead and retrace my family's roots. Roots that stretch back to Italy and were originally nourished under the southern sun. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Stereotypes Step Aside to Reveal Pure Italy
Review: This eminently readable book -- part Italian history, part personal journal -- dissects the economic and social constructs of the Southern part of Italy in an attempt to understand what it truly means to be Southern Italian and why Southern Italians have gotten such a bad rap in Italy and the U.S. The author is proudly of Southern Italian descent, and it seems he has a bone to pick. I can certainly understand that -- I am of Southern Italian descent myself, and no stranger to the stereotypes that exist about "my people" -- the mafioso, the ignorant peasant, the shiftless ne'er do well. The colorful anecdotes in this book do a good job of shattering those stereotypes. Statistics about organized crime and the actual activities of the Mafia seem to show that Italians are not the leaders of the crime world. The apparent "laziness" is actually a social custom, akin to the Mexican siesta, that carried over to the United States, where nobody understood that it was actually a good idea to rest from one's labors during the hottest part of the day. As for the ignorant peasant claim, yes, the people of the South are not as formally educated as those of the North. But what they lack in book-learning, they make up for in common sense, hard physical work, and heart. They are people of high ideals and close families, and it was ideals (a desire to better their families' lot in life) as well as an unsympathetic government that sparked the mass migration from Southern Italy to the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I have no reason to doubt this author's research; I certainly haven't done any of my own that disputes it. But I did get a distinct "bone-picking" feeling from this book that put me off a little bit. That feeling is the only reason why I didn't give the book five stars. Overall, however, the book is pure Italy -- a love of life, and thankfulness for what it brings. As the author travels through Southern Italy, the people he meets and the stories he hears paint clear, enlightening pictures of this mysterious and misunderstood land. I especially loved the (true) story "U Figlio di Giovanni," about a young man who discovers that his father is nothing short of a hero in his home village. I also loved the fact that the author finds his last name popping up all over Southern Italy during his travels. People respond to his name instantly: "That is a name from here. You have a face from here. You are our family." Doors and hearts open, purely on the basis of a familiar -- and therefore trusted and honored -- name. This book is wonderful, engaging reading for anyone interested in Italian culture, Italian heritage, or searches for identity. It also evokes Italy very clearly, even for someone like me, who's only spent seven days there. I plan to read this book again!
| 
