Blog – Our Italian Roots

Unfettered Crony Capitalism

By Story Teller July 25, 2023Economic-Disparities, History, North-South

This post describes the corrupted system that the Italian nation established in its early years. This system can be defined as an early example of unfettered crony capitalism that has plagued the nation since then. Crony capitalismi is an economic system that is characterized by close, mutually advantageous…

Bloody Civil War – An Untold Story

By Story Teller July 25, 2023History, TwoSicilies

TBD

The Tale of Two Banks

By Story Teller July 25, 2023History, Naples, TwoSicilies

Introduction Before we talk about banks, let's remember what the economic situation of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies was compared to that of all the other states of the peninsula, including the Kingdom of Sardinia (Sabaud Kingdom). The following figure shows this situation. In a nutshell, the economic…

Folk Music

By Story Teller July 17, 2023Folk-Music, Music

Folk songs and dances were an integral part of everyday life, with each region having its own unique styles and repertoire. These folk traditions often incorporated traditional instruments such as the tambourine, bagpipes, zampogna (Italian bagpipe), and various percussion instruments. Zampogna - The Soul of Southern Italy During…

Giuseppe Garibaldi

By Story Teller October 4, 2022England, History, South, TwoSicilieshistory, invasion, south

Some of the excerpts in this blog post are taken from the book: La storia delll'Italia Unita by Enrico Fagnano. Mr. Garibaldi one of the most celebrated figures responsible for the creation of the Italian nation, circa 160 years ago, has always been portrayed as the hero that…

Keeping the traditions alive

By Story Teller August 1, 2022Emigration, Italian-Americans

Keeping up with my roots. Recreated an Italian-style pergola in my backyard. Great al fresco place. I believe that the more we can keep alive our history and roots the better our lives will be. The better our unique contribution will be to wherever our destiny brought us.…

The alliance between the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and England

By Story Teller May 28, 2022England, History, South, TwoSicilies

[print_link] Introduction The invasion of the South (Kingdom of Two Sicilies) did not happen by divine will, nor because the "heroes" and "martyrs" of the liberal (today we would say neo-liberal) revolution suddenly decided to defeat a fully organized army and fleet. The high tide that submerged the…

The struggle to make a better life

By Story Teller February 20, 2022Emigration, Italian-Americans

We are the descendants of those brave people that were forced to emigrate by the millions. Some of us live in Southern Italy while others live in the United States. Come with us on this journey of learning and fun. For the Italian-Americans it will be a (re)discovery…

The Kingdom of Two Sicilies and England

By Story Teller February 20, 2022England, History, South, TwoSiciliesengland, history, south

Europe before the Kingdom of Two Sicilies annexation In order to understand how the Italian state was engineered a couple of centuries ago, it is important to understand the political context of the time, mainly the crucial role that England and France played. The Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont…

Tonight in Naples

By Story Teller December 27, 2021History, Naples, South, TwoSicilies

This Christmas the Italian television aired a superb service about Naples, the town I came from. More than 4 million watched it. This was my comment on the journalist’s FB page. Mr. Angela, as a Neapolitan living abroad, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to you and…