| Author: | Mario Valentini, Cheryl Hardacre | ISBN: | 9781628722017 |
| Publisher: | Skyhorse Publishing | Publication: | October 20, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Arcade Publishing | Language: | English |
| Author: | Mario Valentini, Cheryl Hardacre |
| ISBN: | 9781628722017 |
| Publisher: | Skyhorse Publishing |
| Publication: | October 20, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Arcade Publishing |
| Language: | English |
An actor and scriptwriter revisits his youth in the rural landscapes of Italy in this “charming childhood memoir” (Notebook Magazine).
In the tradition of Cinema Paradiso, Chewing Gum in Holy Water: A Childhood in the Heart of Italy presents a warm, tender, and richly nostalgic look at growing up in a remote village in a postwar Italy on the brink of modernity.
Mario Valentini was born in the rugged Abruzzo Mountains in the heart of Italy, but with money short at home and his father working in a foreign land, he was sent to live with his uncle—a traveling priest—at the age of four. Thus began a life of unexpected freedoms and marvelous adventures. For the mischievous boy, who loved nothing so much as swordplay and American chewing gum, every new town meant new friends, and getting into trouble was as easy as shooting his slingshot. From confronting a hungry wolf at dusk to drinking in the fumes in an empty wine barrel, every anecdote sparkles with his exuberance for life.
As he grows, Mario gleans lessons from unexpected sources: a curmudgeonly painter, a communist reputed to eat priests for dinner, even the caustic spinster aunt who keeps house for his uncle. Full of humor and affection, and infused with the scents and tastes of Abruzzo, Mario and his wife Cheryl Hardacre present a timeless memoir that indelibly captures a special time and place.
“Lively, sweetly humorous coming-of-age stories affectionately evoke a lost time and place.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A nostalgic look back into a golden childhood.” —New Oxford Review
An actor and scriptwriter revisits his youth in the rural landscapes of Italy in this “charming childhood memoir” (Notebook Magazine).
In the tradition of Cinema Paradiso, Chewing Gum in Holy Water: A Childhood in the Heart of Italy presents a warm, tender, and richly nostalgic look at growing up in a remote village in a postwar Italy on the brink of modernity.
Mario Valentini was born in the rugged Abruzzo Mountains in the heart of Italy, but with money short at home and his father working in a foreign land, he was sent to live with his uncle—a traveling priest—at the age of four. Thus began a life of unexpected freedoms and marvelous adventures. For the mischievous boy, who loved nothing so much as swordplay and American chewing gum, every new town meant new friends, and getting into trouble was as easy as shooting his slingshot. From confronting a hungry wolf at dusk to drinking in the fumes in an empty wine barrel, every anecdote sparkles with his exuberance for life.
As he grows, Mario gleans lessons from unexpected sources: a curmudgeonly painter, a communist reputed to eat priests for dinner, even the caustic spinster aunt who keeps house for his uncle. Full of humor and affection, and infused with the scents and tastes of Abruzzo, Mario and his wife Cheryl Hardacre present a timeless memoir that indelibly captures a special time and place.
“Lively, sweetly humorous coming-of-age stories affectionately evoke a lost time and place.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A nostalgic look back into a golden childhood.” —New Oxford Review
