Grazia Ietto Gillies was born in Calabria in 1939 and spent the first
ten years of her life in Delianuova, a small town in the Aspromonte
mountains. She moved to Rome with her family in 1950 and has
lived in London since 1971. She has worked and published as
an academic economist.
https://graziaiettogillies.wordpress.com.
From the goat bells of Calabria to the traffic of South London, from a classroom in a dressmakers house to lecturing at a metropolitan university, and from childhood to adulthood, Grazia Ietto Gillies takes the reader on an enchanting journey involving memory and her Mammas cooking. The passage of time and the timelessness of Italian recipes make this an extraordinary tale of displacement, discontinuity and, ultimately, reconnection. If music be the food of love, then it is the love of food that makes this memoir sing.
Nick Barlay, author ofScattered Ghosts: One Familys Survival through War, Holocaust and Revolution
In By the Olive Groves, Grazia Ietto Gillies has written a testament to the creative power of the Mediterranean kitchen. A daughters lifelong appreciation for Mamma Giulias ingenuity and good taste lies at the heart of this story of one familys rise from the hard mountains of Calabria to Roman postwar prosperity. Rich in characters, memories and, above all, recipes, this evocative memoir is also a guide to the history and cuisine of a region.
Catherine Davidson, author ofThe Priest Fainted
If you have ever been enchanted by southern Italy; if you have left the house of childhood, but often return there in imagination; if you think cooking is an important part of life; or if you consider economics and poetics to be closely related: then you must read this book. Travel with Grazia Ietto Gillies across the horseshoe-shaped high street of Delianuova in Calabria, from her house (perfumed by her mothers cooking) to those of her cousins, then down the slopes to Reggio Calabria, facing Sicily and the straits of Scylla and Charybdis. Warmly and thoughtfully evoking her childhood, she brings the town and its environs, history and inhabitants to life with her green-golden pen, the colour of sunlight filtering through an olive leaf.
Emily Grosholz, poet, philosopher and Advisory Editor,The Hudson Review
Published in 2017 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London New York
www.ibtauris.com
Copyright 2017 Grazia Ietto Gillies
The right of Grazia Ietto Gillies to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.
References to websites were correct at the time of writing.
ISBN: 978 1 78453 546 9
eISBN: 978 1 78672 129 7
ePDF: 978 1 78673 129 6
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available
Typeset in Goudy Old Style by A. & D. Worthington, Newmarket
To the memory of my parents
and
for their great-grandchildren
Acknowledgements
Many family and friends have read successive drafts of this memoir and offered welcome suggestions. My mother-in-law, Katharine Ross Gillies, read it in 2006, in her 95th year, and gave enthusiastic encouragement to proceed further and publish it and to include photographs. Sadly she passed away in her 98th year, having retained her mental power and interest in literature almost to the last. Francesco Abbate and Donatella Badin Abbate read a version in 2007 and gave encouraging and useful comments. Simonetta Agnello Hornby read it in 2009 and offered welcome advice. A chance encounter led to the first person outside the family and friends circle reading it in 2011 and offering much needed encouragement. Howard Daviess kind, competent and generous comments gave me the resolve to seek publication. Emily Grosholzs very positive comments in 2011 led to much improvement and further resolve. She also helped to tidy up the final draft.
I am also grateful to Emily for her introduction to the Upper Wimpole Street Literary Salon organized by Sarah Glazer. Participation in their stimulating meetings increased my desire to continue the project. Shelley Weiner read it in 2012 and offered encouraging comments and very useful advice on the structure. The revised 2013 version was read by my friend and economist colleague Marion Frenz who was also very encouraging. Alix Kirsta has given me much needed advice on navigating through the confusing world of agents and publishers and on preparing material for them. Her friend Nick Barlay was very helpful in suggesting that I approach Tatiana Wilde at I.B.Tauris. Another fortuitous encounter led to Polly Coles reading it and offering very perceptive comments.
My uncle Angelo Ietto provided information on my paternal great grandfather, and my cousin Nino Scutell on my maternal great grandfather. Sadly Nino died in 2015. My cousins Grazia and Giuseppina Stevani have supplied a photograph of their mother, Tota Scutell; my cousin Daniela Caminiti has given me valuable information and reading material about Delianuova; and Raffaele Leuzzi has provided me with digital copies of photos of Delianuova in the 1940s. My friend Marika Lucisano has kindly provided reading material on Reggio and on I bronzi di Riace. Finn Dean has managed to represent my large extended family as three, simple family trees.
My editor Tatiana Wilde has given encouragement, support and most relevant for me has believed in the project from when I first contacted I.B.Tauris. I am grateful to David Campbell for efficiently overseeing the production and to David Worthington for his pleasing design and for dealing well with the copy-editing of a demanding script.
To Donald and Mark I owe much more than gratitude for reading this memoir and offering comments and support. They are the very reason why I have happily settled in Britain. The geographical, cultural and social displacement effect that this has had on me I consider to be the main drive behind my desire indeed urge to write the memoir.
Many, many thanks to all of you.
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