As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.
Where can I find information about specific characteristics ie--personality, nuances, etc.-- of people related to the region they came from?
And, if your ancestors were born in a certain region--but it was near a larger city-- would that carry over into their characteristics/behavior? Example--My grandmother was born in Raiano, and Rome was 50 miles east of there--would the characteristics of people in Rome carry over/spill over into smaller areas? Or, were the regions in the late 1800's generally so cloistered that no other influences carried over?
Thanks ahead for any info. Is there any book/literature on behaviors/personality/regions of Italy?
Let me re-phrase the question-- I am just wondering if anyone knows about the characteristics of people from different regions of Italy.
Example--Napolitians verus Sicilians versus those from other regions.
Those things, about how people are different depending on what region they're from.
They are all human beings who differ in dialect language, ancient history and their later respective history, social, economic and cultural customs and beliefs their self perception and the perception of others.
Perhaps if you consider the differences between a native of Georgia and a native New Yorker you will be able to discern the differences between a Sicilian native and that of a Neopolitan.
In fact today I visited the Italian Cultural Center in Westchester, NY. This center is devoting the next year to Sicilian cooking, music, language (it is not a dialect except by law), and alll things Sicilian. Linguists, story tellers, musicians......the differences between Sicily and the rest of Italy.
Perhaps what is most telling my wife who is of Sicilian background when asked if she is Italian answers "I am of Sicilian background" =Peter=
I guess a touchy subject, but I never looked at it that way! More like the way a sociologist researches something.. in an objective way....but most things boil down to our perceptions! Even most research is probably skewed toward the researcher's point of view...
The article is very interesting.Thank you for your help.
No, I wasn't saying you were touchy, just that the whole area of my original question could be interpreted as sensitive to some people, if it pigeon holed people, which I hadn't thought about...
Thank you for your informative response concerning ethnology which by definition deals with the division of human beings into races and their origin, distribution, and characteristics and Anthropology since it also concerns comparative study of cultures.
Zooming out gives one a staggering view of the subject matter doesn't it?
How canwe halp? =Peter=
My mother's parents come from the regions of Abruzzo and Campagnia. Where can I find out more information about those specific regions? Anything that is unique to those regions, but not others? Not sure where to start.
since we went thru this with you for the Sicily-Campagnia regions with the same objectives researching google or your browser will be an excellent research vehicle for your paper. Your dealing with ethnology and anthropology while we are geared for genealogy in this forum.
If you have a specific question we may be able to readily assist you or direct your researches to something particular but to even furnish an outline for your paper is complex. You might obtain some immediate answers in www.italyworldclub.com for the area you are contemplating. =Peter=
Italians have a long and deep-rooted tradition of beliefs about luck and things that give either good or bad luck. In Italy there are colloquial names for bad luck. Think of:"sfiga" or "jella" (read it as "yella), but the most scary thing for millions of Italians is "Il Malocchio", which translate ...