Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks: A Son's Discovery of His Italian Heritage

by Giovanni Ruscitti

Overview

“Giovanni Ruscitti has written a wonderful book of special relevance for all North and South Americans whose ancestors have migrated from Asia, Europe, and Africa. His journey to the land of his forefathers is so meaningful not only because of the discovery of what connects us ‘Americanos’ to the rest of the world but also the journey within. A trip in which we all feel recognized. Bravo maestro!”

—Hernando de Soto, finalist for Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and author of Mystery of Capital

Amazon #1 Bestseller Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks is a passionate and deeply moving story about a father-son relationship; a culture rooted in family, food and wine; and an ancestral small town in Central Italy that was left behind after World War II.

On November 11, 1943, the Nazis invaded Cansano, forcing its two thousand inhabitants to make a tough decision—fight and be killed or sent to a POW camp, stay behind as servants to the Nazis, or move into the unforgiving mountains of Abruzzo while the Nazis used their village as a home base. Giovanni Ruscitti’s family chose the latter and spent the next few months living in horrendous winter conditions in the rugged mountains. When the war ended, they returned to a village so ravaged by the Nazis that, today, the town has less than two hundred citizens and remains in a dilapidated state.

In this memoir, Ruscitti visits Cansano for the first time with his family, including parents Emiliano and Maria. As he walks Cansano’s cobblestones, his father’s stories and life are illuminated by the town piazza, the steep valley, and the surrounding mountains. He relives the tales of his parents’ struggles during World War II, their extreme post-war misery and poverty, their budding romance after, and their decision to immigrate to the US in search of the American Dream.

Ruscitti’s adventure is not just an exploration of his homeland but reveals what family, culture, wisdom, and love really means. And what our heritage really tells us about who we are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635767964
Publisher:	Radius Book Group
Publication date:	08/16/2022
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Giovanni Ruscitti, Esq. is a first generation Italian-American who grew up in Frederick, Colorado, a small coal mining town that his parents and grandparents immigrated to in the 1950s and early 1960s. A nationally recognized attorney, arbitrator, and mediator, as well as a frequent speaker at national legal events, Giovanni is the Managing Partner of national law firm Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti, LLP. He holds a degree in Economics and a M.B.A from the Universityof Colorado, as well as a J.D. from Denver University. In 2022, he was named as one of the most influential business leaders in Colorado, and has served on numerous non-profit boards. He is currently the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Boulder Economic Council, on the Board of Directors of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and a member of Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Board of Governors.

Giovanni and his wife of over thirty years, Aggie Blake-Ruscitti, have three adult children, Dante, Donato, and Izabella. Giovanni and Aggie currently live outside Boulder, Colorado, where they enjoy traveling, biking, hiking, yoga and Italian wines.

Table of Contents

1 The Road 1

2 Chopping Wood and the Market 3

3 The Wine Cellar 7

4 Pulling Weeds 12

5 The Piazza 15

6 The Town 20

7 His First Wages 23

8 First Impressions 29

9 La Passeggiata 34

10 Our First Walk 37

11 My Grandfathers 47

12 Hank 57

13 The Nazi Invasion 59

14 The Stock Market 66

15 Chiacchierone 68

16 Polenta and Dandelions 72

17 The Harmonica Album 76

18 Rina 86

19 Kicked Out of Their Homes 88

20 Survival 93

21 Food and Wine 101

22 The Phone Call 110

23 Pescocostanzo 112

24 The Serenade 116

25 Love Letters 120

26 The Sharp Dresser 126

27 Fucking Cancer 132

28 1958 135

29 The Wall Street Journal 140

30 Coffee with Zio Pietro 153

31 Overwhelmed 157

32 Bocce 158

33 The River 167

34 Our Last Day in Cansano 172

35 Rome and the Art of Negotiation 176

36 Cheese in the Pocket 179

37 The Last Feast of the Seven Fishes 185

38 Rina's Passing 192

39 "Somebody Should Write Our Story" 194

40 The Final Negotiation 198

41 You Can Do It 201

Afterword 203

Inspirations, Acknowledgments, and Gratitude 205

About the Author 209

Editorial Reviews

Moving memoir…The author lucidly combines the personal and the political…A thoughtful consideration of the meaning of a person’s sense of self and the nuanced ways in which it is constituted by elements that preceded the individual and elude full comprehension. As a result, the author’s recollection transcends the particulars of his own life and should resonate with readers similarly gripped by the struggle to understand their origins. A captivating, candid, and insightful account about a man’s Italian heritage.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A deftly scripted, inherently engaging, and ultimately inspiring account of the impact of war upon a community and a family…A story of survival and immigration—especially timely in today's denigration of the value and causes of immigrants to America by families seeking asylum from the horrors and aftermath of war, and for a better life for themselves and their children…A compelling read from cover to cover.”

—Midwest Book Review

At the end of the day, Ruscitti proves that not only can you go home again, you can also go home for the first time. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

—Manhattan Book Review

 

“Giovanni Ruscitti’s father Emilio urged his son to ‘tell our story.’ This remarkable memoir fulfills not only that promise but describes the hopes and dreams of immigrants who brought to this country their traditions, their love of family, and a unity that survived the melting pot of the American experience. This first-generation Italian-American author has created a beautiful, intimate, and touching portrait of not only a father’s love but a family’s commitment to each other and what we all hope to know—where we came from and who we are. It is a story that preaches the art of living life in full, with joy and compassion.”

—Dan Luzadder, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author and journalist

 

“This touching and inspirational book is a must-read for all walks of life. The United States was built from immigrant families with these shared experiences.”

—Bobby Stuckey, James Beard Award winner, and author of Friuli Food and Wine: Frasca Cooking from Northern Italy's Mountains, Vineyards, and Seaside

 

“Giovanni Ruscitti has written a wonderful book of special relevance for all North and South Americans whose ancestors have migrated from Asia, Europe, and Africa. His journey to the land of his forefathers is so meaningful not only because of the discovery of what connects us ‘Americanos’ to the rest of the world but also the journey within. A trip in which we all feel recognized. Bravo maestro!”

—Hernando de Soto, finalist for Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and author of Mystery of Capital

 

“After reading Cobblestones, Conversations, and Corks, I was filled with immense pride. Giovanni Ruscitti’s book is an eloquent and poetic tribute to his father and his family. It’s a work of art that made me laugh and cry.”

—Vic Lombardi, thirty-three-time Emmy-winning sportscaster

 

“I’m in the middle of the NFL playoffs and couldn’t put the book down. I had to finish it. Readers will love Ruscitti’s book!"

—Mike Shanahan, two-time Super Bowl champion head coach

 

 

 

From the Publisher

2022-07-25
In this memoir, a man recollects his first visit to his parents’ hometown in Italy, an emotional journey.

Ruscitti grew up in Frederick, Colorado, a small coal-mining town, regaled by stories about his ancestors in Cansano, nestled in Italy’s Abruzzo region. His parents, Emiliano and Maria, introduced him to the traditions that dominated their own youth—the family made its own wine, hung dried sausage in the cellar, and bought Italian cheeses in bulk. The author’s first language was Italian. But unlike his sisters, he never visited Cansano—never experienced firsthand this town that figured so significantly in the constitution of his own character. He yearned to finally see it for himself and to make sense of his father’s identity and his own. Ruscitti finally visited the town in 2013, a trip he deftly chronicles in this moving memoir: “I had never been to Cansano before and the stories I had heard seemed disconnected from me and my daily life. The difficulties, pain, and suffering of the post-World War II era and subsequent immigrant life were not mine. Yet, after one day, I wanted to touch and get to know this place of origin, and I would soon have an awakening, an understanding of where—and from whom—I came.” The author lucidly combines the personal and the political—he describes his family’s life in Cansano as well as the town’s modern history, both of which were often fraught. Emiliano and Maria grew up in Italy during the 1930s and ’40s and witnessed the ways in which their homeland was ravaged by war, Nazi occupation, and economic deprivation. They both moved to the United States in the mid-’50s and built a successful life that preserved, however imperfectly, the culture of their youth. Ruscitti’s reflection is more than an idiosyncratic remembrance—it’s a thoughtful consideration of the meaning of a person’s sense of self and the nuanced ways in which it is constituted by elements that preceded the individual and elude full comprehension. As a result, the author’s recollection transcends the particulars of his own life and should resonate with readers similarly gripped by the struggle to understand their origins.

A captivating, candid, and insightful account about a man’s Italian heritage.

Kirkus Reviews