La sera del 24 marzo 2016 sono stato alla Palo Alto Adult School, su invito della docente Stefania Filigheddu. Si è parlato di linguaggio, di identità, di mondi apparentemente lontani eppure così vicini, che si nascondono dietro le parole.
In questa circostanza ho scoperto che molte persone frequentano i corsi di italiano, che pare abbiano soppiantato quelli di yoga.  Partecipano ai corsi persone che non necessariamente hanno radici italiane ma sono innamorate della nostra lingua.
La domanda più frequente: “Mi dici qualcosa in italiano, per favore?”

The novel Per il bene che ti voglio is a story about italian immigration to the States during the 30’s.

Now in its fourth printing, the novel speaks of the bittersweet experiences of the protagonist Antonio Bevilacqua as he emigrates from Lucca, Italy to San Francisco.
Some parts of the novel are written in ITALIESE: this is a hybrid of English and Italian. Italian immigrants adapted English words and phrases into their spoken Italian with results both curious and amusing. The book includes a dictionary which gives definitions of Italiese words used.

In the late Twenties, Antonio Bevilacqua leaves the environs of Lucca, in hopes of an acting career in the off-Broadway theatres of San Francisco.
He comes from Fabbriche di Careggine, a little village in Garfagnana, the mountain region of Lucchesia (Tuscany).
Now Fabbriche di Careggine lies on the bottom of a lake after the construction of a dam. The dam has dammed the waters of the Edron river, creating an artificial lake. The town was evacuated. Every ten years the lake is drained for maintenance works on the dam. The ghost town emerges from the water.

In San Francisco Antonio comes into contact with the art world which centres on such figures as Ferlinghetti.
He is a DAGO, a CHIANTI, an ITHAKER.

For a time Antonio moves to Hollywood, where he is employed as a stand-in for Charlie Chaplin.
In the meantime, Antonio transformed himself into ‘Tony Drinkwater’ (the literal translation of his name)
He seems, therefore, to have found his ‘Merica’ of the ‘muvinpicce’ – a term derived from the English ‘moving picture’.
Tony speaks ITALIESE, an awkward yet somehow poetic half-English half-Italian pidgin used by the Dagos. For example, he says “giobbo” (from job), “stritta” (street), “corno” (corner), “sciumecca” (shoes maker).

In language as in life, Antonio Bevilacqua inhabits a no-man’s land between what he once was and what he has not yet become.
When Antonio goes back in Garfagnana, he is seen by villagers as an “american monster”. A reintegration is not possible anymore.