Meeting Barbara, originally Canadian, was an enrichment both for me, as a teacher, and for my students. She told us her story, over an iced tea and a biscuit ice cream. With her smile she charmed everyone and with her friendliness she put everyone at ease. She told us that when she was younger she had several “Wedding Planner” companies spread across America and Europe. She had the opportunity to meet different people, belonging to different cultural environments, but the country in which she felt most at home was Italy, and the people by whom she felt most welcomed were Italians. She loves everything about Italy: food, climate, landscapes, sea and people who have always shown kindness. She tells us about an episode that she will never forget, for the welcome and generosity she received, especially in Sicily. Late one morning in June, she decided to go to Syracuse. Arriving at the port, she punctured a wheel on his car. As soon as she got off it, she was immediately surrounded by a group of people ready to lend her a hand. Hearing her accent mixed between English and American, they understood that the lady would have greater needs, because she had difficulty understanding Italian. What she understood perfectly was the hospitality she received from a gentleman in particular who even invited her to sit at home, together with his family, to share a plate of pasta, adding a seat at the table, while the wheel would have been repaired by his brother-in-law. By recounting this image, colored by her English and the light of her eyes, we understood how much gratitude Barbara felt towards those people who had welcomed her. For her, “all this represented a sort of identity card of the Sicilian people, of their welcome and their warmth. Sometimes it may seem intrusive, but when they need help they never hold back.” This is what Barbara tells us, this is Barbara’s description of Italian people, in particular the Sicilian ones.
For some of us reading this anecdote, it may seem normal, because it’s true, Italians are welcoming. For many others, it may seem strange to hear good things about it. For this reason, Barbara concludes by saying: “We appreciate what Italy represents and what Italians are. You Italians probably don’t give the right value to everything you have.” Will it be true? Thanks to Barbara for everything beautiful she said about us Italians. Thank you for this moment of reflection.
