ITALIAN LETTER
THE WORLD OF "LA
MISE RIA"
One of the chief characteristics of traditional peasant cul–
tures is that for them "history," as well as the natural factors of the
environment, belong to the realm of the given. That is to say, peasants
see themselves as subject to the workings of history but scarcely as
makers of it. In this respect the peasants of Calabria and Lucania differ
in no way from the rural populations of other parts of the world. The
difference lies, rather, in the special and intricate relationship between
geography and history that prevails in southern Italy, for more history
has passed over this region than over any comparable area.
Calabria and Lucania are above all isolated provinces. Most of
the towns are situated at a distance from the main highways and rail–
roads. Some are connected by dirt road or mule track with some larger
center; others have only a footpath, impassable during the winter
months, to link them with the outer world. Hence there is little trade
between the various towns of the interior, and contact with the outside
is still limited to such unusual events as emigration or conscription.
Only here and there does a movie theater import the sights and
sounds of the world at large.
The tillable soil is both scarce and of poor quality. Even in areas
where a majority of the people own the land they farm, the average
holding consists of no more than six to eight acres. To this factor
must be added the deficiency of rainfall as well as the ancient and
inefficient methods of cultivation. Also, nature has afflicted this region
with two special handicaps-landslides and earthquakes. It is said that
in Lucania the mountains walk. The same could be said of Calabria.
Towns peel off, house by house, crashing down the mountainsides; roads
sag and tracks disappear.
But historically these same regions, though poor in resources and
plagued by natural catastrophes, have exerted an extraordinary power
of attraction. In great part this has been due to their pointing toward
the center of the Mediterranean world, their location on the trade
routes leading from Hellas to the Middle East as well as to the trading
capitals of Southern and Central Europe; and the very difficulty of
