Summers In Supino: Summary

Maria Coletta McLean wrote, Summers in Supino. This book follows Maria through a very difficult time in her life after her father passed away. Although this story flows from loss and grief, the values of the Italian culture shine through. Through the eyes of an American, Italians may be viewed as boisterous, wine drinking, party going, and pasta loving families with many children. Are those descriptive qualities a true encapsulation of the Italian culture? McLean is second generation Supinese, with her father coming from the village of Supino. Although she was raised by her Italian family in Canada, she has seen life both from the inside of Supino and out. Her life experience is what makes McLean such a great resource to the fact that, Italian

Northern Italy tends to have smaller families, while Southern Italy seems to stay true to the tradition of having large families which includes the extended family and the community (DePaw University, 2007, para.2). I would think that McLean is from one of those large families since she states, “I have about 33 cousins” but, “Usually there’s only about a dozen of us for dinner” (McLean, 2013, p.13-14). McLean also mentions that her family extends far past Italy’s boarders, but this does not seem to break the family ties. Whether northerners or southerners, family is still the most important value to the Italian

This all proves that the Italian culture is defined by their strong values. The unity of their values is what makes them so strong. It all starts with that first commitment and not one could exist fully without the others. If it means having a dozen people over for Sunday lunch, inviting a stranger over for a meal every chance possible, or taking a two hour lunch break to spend time with friends and family, I think that Italians have the right idea. I believe that Americans use to have some of these same values and maybe some still do, but they are not always prioritized correctly. We should use the Italian culture as a role model and truly put family first. What would America look like if we placed our family