Time to leave Italia

Snow adorns the Alpina cafe in Paderno, two weeks ago, and again today!

Well, dear friends, our time here in Paderno del Grappa is coming to an end rather rapidly. Last night we had the final dinner out with faculty at the same Casa Bianca where we ate our Thanksgiving meal, and the folks there knocked themselves out on our behalf. Excellent food, and excellent vegetarian and gluten-free selections as well. Everyone was enjoying each others' company and the volume of conversation was near deafening, until the dessert came - a home-made vanilla gelato with a warm berry sauce - and the room fell quiet. Except for spoon scraping bowl.

We have been blessed with an exceptional group of people with whom to work and live while here. The faculty are all dedicated and hard-working, and enjoy the kids, the environment, the program, and the travel opportunities. They are positive, kind, bright, funny and thoroughly delightful to spend time with. It has been a joy to be among such folk and it will be difficult to part from them. I hope we have made some friends with whom we will maintain contact, and even reunite. Maybe even here!

Last time we left here we said to each other, "That was great, but we don't need to do it again. Been there, and done that." Now we leave and hope to return.

I have grown even more impressed with and fond of this region of Italy. It is beautiful, quiet, authentic, rural, rich in history, and very Italian. It is also very conservative, socially, and resists change. There are changes looming all over Europe, and the entrenched populace is alert to and averse to them.

Immigration is one such perceived 'threat' - where last time there were very few noticeable immigrants, now there are many more. From India, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Where former immigrants were interested in and willing to be involved in assimilation, new arrivals seem more likely to cling to their former cultures. This is seen as eroding the Italian lifestyle.

The culture here is integrally linked to agriculture, with small fields of every imaginable crop grown in any available location, vineyards, olive orchards, and hayfields between the rural lanes. Everyone keeps some level of kitchen garden and most homes grow a variety of fruit trees, herbs and veggies. Sheep are herded through the lanes to graze down the fields, manure spreaders trundle along the main roads, and flocks of cows descending from the mountain pastures block traffic on their return every autumn. The pastoral effect is cultural and part of what the way of life is here.

This is Gabriella's Ortofrutta, a local truck-farm produce outlet. Most of the produce is from Italy, much from this region. We got most of our fruits and veggies here, as it was the very best, always primo fresh. That's what happens when it grows 5 kilometers away.

The Italian culture is also deeply steeped in its own history, and in its millennia-long symbiosis with the Roman Catholic Church. It is nearly impossible to extricate one from the other. Even the garbage and recycling calendar notes not only the date and day of the week on which each collection occurs, but the saints' days associated with that date. Paper recycling on Saint Joseph's day? Va bene!

A corner of the CIMBA campus, a La Salle order Catholic private school, during warmer weather earlier in our stay.

To what extent will these folks from vastly different cultures manage to assimilate? Will the new immigrants fill positions on the small-scale farms or work only in the region's industries and service sectors? Will they value the slow pace and the offerings of this rural area? Will the residents accept that folks with different religions and ways of being can be contributing members of their community? There is not a lot of acceptance visible yet, and some out-right hostility - especially toward the African immigrants - is overt and proclaimed. It will be interesting to watch.

Another change in the offing is dealing with trash disposal. Italians love cleanliness, and they love packaging, and there is a lot of trash generated in the process of living. This province, the Veneto, is exceptional within Italy in that it has gotten on board with a comprehensive recycling program, has educated the populace, and has provided excellent almost daily service for the various recyclables. There are other regions in the south that are struggling with trash issues - Naples has a grant from the EU to try to get its trash system under control and out from the grip of the Mafia. Campania is a region that took on other areas' junk, and now finds that close to 50% of the soil is contaminated. Much Italian garbage is sent to Africa for disposal, and surely there are problems that will develop with that system. Obviously, this is an issue much larger than Italy alone, and it stands as a case in point of how the personal has become global.

A home that we walk past every time we come into the campus, flanked by the base of Monte Grappa.

We have noted changes since our last visit, but the essence of this corner of the world is still beautiful and embracing - granted, as long as one is not from Africa. Ritorniamo.

That's all from Italy! We fly out on Sunday am to London, then go to Chicago to see Dad Hoffer for three days. From there we head home on Dec 9th. Home!