Calabria Continued – Decollatura, Conflenti (again), Cirella, Martone, Gizzeria, Gerace, Bivongi, Messina, Nicastro… Mamma Mia!

Our Team:

Me -  :)

Silvana Toia – author of book

Gina Polito – author of book

Silvana Nero – author of book

Emilia Toia – graphic designer and author of book

Erron Field – photographer of book

Francesco “Ciccio” – Silvana T's cousin and our driver

Sara – Ciccio’s wife and moral support

Michael Toia – Silvana’s husband

Book singing in Gizzeria

This week has been so full on I haven’t had any time to sit and write for the blog! I’m now sitting on the train back to Rome with Emilia, Erron and Mum. We’re looking forward to chilling for the first time in ten days, and hopefully meeting some locals (via Couch Surfing). I’m personally looking forward to having a drink other than wine (which I have been enjoying with every three-course meal, twice daily), and I’m thinking Campari to keep it cultural, otherwise a favourite: gin and tonic. Back to blogging and my lack of it, there is also limited access to internet here, so even if I wanted to post you, dear reader, I couldn’t have sooner. Allora (so), I don’t think I have ever had a week busier than this one, and that includes exam period. We have visited every town of each woman in the book, shared their stories, given books talks, signings, meetings with government officials and finally ending last night on regional television! I’ll start with that.

            Monday night, 9:30pm, panel-like discussion, people phoned in with opinion, it was the Italian version of Q&A. The set was slightly more chaotic than Q&A though, as I’ve been an audience in the show, but all I’ll say is that it was very Italian. More info in the film to come. What I was stoked about was that they allowed to me to film on their set AND use the footage from the show on my film – score! Permission like this in Australia is close to costing something in the thousands. They have a website where they also upload the episodes, so you’ll be able to see the Sempre Con Te team online (www.2015tv.it), the episode was from Monday 6/09/2010. 

On the set: (from right to left) Silvana Toia, Emilia Toia,
Silvana Nero and Gina Polito. Erron is taking photo here

Me filming on the TV set

I especially liked seeing a camera guy smoking on set – Italian hint there for you. No matter where you go you see Italians smoking. Just before we got on the train to Rome today I saw a man hop on and then light up right next to a “Vietato Fumare” (smoking is forbidden) sign. Classic. The toilets on board are also occupied for smokers currently, who cares about our busting bladders? Actually, quite funnily, Erron recently bought himself a pair of what we call in Australia ‘budgie smugglers’. White, tight, Italian “trunks”. He said he knew he couldn’t get away with it in Britain, but ‘when in Rome’ I guess. On the beach the other day I brought up the topic of his swimming attire again, and as he sat there he lit up a cigarette and said, “Well this is what happens when you come to Italy. Within a week you’re wearing speedos and smoking on the beach”.

Anther Italian trait to look out for is talking on the telephone. On the way over to Rome from the airport after arriving from Sydney, our taxi driver had two telephones and spoke almost continuously on both of them. One would call, then the other would, he’d hang up and interchange with them constantly. He was even texting at one point without his hands on the wheel. Silvana Toia’s cousin Cicio, who drove us around the whole time in the mini van, also has a couple phones – one for calling people on and one for receiving calls… I didn’t ask why – I’ve come to find that question irrelevant here.

The talk in Cirella

Nuns reading our book in Cirella

Filming in Cirella

Book talk in Martone town hall

Street art in Martone - images of migration

Book talk in Gizzeria

Street in Gizzeria at nightfall

We spent the whole week travelling altogether (nine of us) in this mini van. The other night on our way home from dinner with some of Emilia’s local cousins, she made the commnent, “Next time lets just get two cars, it would have been so much easier to get around and be less dependent…” I said “Yeah I know! That would have been so much better… why did we get the one big car?” “Because your mother had a dream of us travelling altogether, singing.” This didn’t surprise me in the slightest, that’s Mum for you – Julie Andrews. Erron also made the very practical comment of, “well it is more economical with one car” … but he carries New Scientist magazine in his pocket, so of course he’d say something like that. Did I mention he is also the only non-Italian with us? Thank God for Erron.

Out for dinner with Emilia's cousins! 

My filming has been going great, much to my satisfaction. Documentary making is a step into the unknown, you could return home to edit with shit-all or you could get lucky and come back with a wonderful story. With so much happening in such a small space of time, I got lucky. I’ve been able to capture over 14 hours of our journey with the excitement, emotion and the daily random events that continued to blow our mind as they lead us from one point to another like Alice down the Rabbit Hole. Arriving with almost nothing planned and ending the way we did (great opportunity and being so well received) it has been, depending on who you are, a peculiar form of chaos theory, or destiny. Silvana Toia even said last night “It has been like a dream”. The filming process has felt like a mix between a reality TV show and a family holiday with an obsessive parent (me) filming the whole thing e.g. “Wave to the camera Billy. What are you eating Billy? Sing me ‘Happy Birthday’ again Billy”. Our whole group has been great and very cooperative with my filming, and I am actually very thankful for their allowances. You don’t realise how invasive a camera can be when present in real life circumstances until you have one there almost 24/7. Frustration, confusion and tears have been shared along with the laughter, meal times and general daily banality. At first feeling quite vulnerable with its presence, the group and myself have grown with its company, and like perhaps ‘big brother’, its watching eye is almost forgotten. It’s still a bit to get used to, watching yourself on video and seeing your face take up the whole screen (a short arm-length away is all I have when I talk to the lens). But you get used to the pimples, the low-angle shots (Facebook photography horror), and the unusual Bogan accent you never thought you had.

Last Wednesday I went to see my Nonna’s house in Conflenti. This experience was very special for me, and relevant to the doco’s mission of following my family roots. Some interesting events happened there, but I better save the highlights for the film otherwise all is lost without its climaxes … Mum and I also went to the church Nonna had her proxy marriage in and then journeyed to Messina yesterday, the port in Sicily where Nonna’s boat, ‘The Oceania’, departed for Australia. That was quite emotional for Mum and a little unreal for me to fathom. I felt complete when I was able to capture it, it gave purpose and fulfillment to my journey, and was really nice to be able to see in real life the places I wrote about in my HSC short story on Nonna’s migration experiences (titled ‘Could be Better, Could be Worse’ – feel free to ask for a copy if interested).

The Italian boys awaiting my email...
and Ciccio on the right as my bodyguard. 

It has been really enjoyable spending time in each little village, seeing its own unique characteristics, the people, the Italian boys and their attention (that’s a whole other blog there), the bell towers, the 1000 year old architecture, the undercurrents of Catholicism, gelato and pizza on every corner, and the Italian language floating through every street and corridor. I’ve been so exhausted, sleeping usually after 1am and awaking a handful of hours later, I really look forward to sleeping and chilling in Rome and then coming home to my base. I will, of course, continue the process of the film on the blog as I conduct more interviews in Sydney and begin the long, long editing process.

Until next time!

-Danielle.

Gizzeria at Sunset

* Photos by Emilia Toia and Erron Field