How this book came to be
by Audrey and David
Our love for travel and living in other countries began with the Peace Corps. For two years we lived and worked in community projects in Cuzco, Peru. We spoke Spanish and made friends with Peruvians, ate meals together, danced, and drank chicha, the local fermented brew. We learned so much about ourselves as we adapted to life in another culture. Most importantly we learned about others’ lives.
About fourteen years ago, after earlier travels and Italian language study in northern and central Italy, we decided to visit southern Italy. With a bit of luck and little knowledge we found ourselves at the end of the train line in the university town of Lecce in southern Puglia with the business card of an Italian woman who Audrey had met in the airport a few weeks earlier. Should we accept her invitation to look her up? We did.
Luciana, the woman in the airport, introduced us to Carlo, her high school English teacher, and his wife Lucia. Our new friends, all from the same small Salento town and all fluent speakers of English, shared their food, music, and lives with us. At first glance, we were drawn to Salento’s blue seas, olive groves, and old stone walls but in the end, it was our friendship that drew us back each year to listen to more family stories and music, visit historical sites, and taste every local dish, thanks to Lucia’s and Luciana’s cooking. We began to understand how this region of Italy came to be so culturally, historically and politically unique.
Together with our Italian co-authors we often wondered aloud what was it that made us return year after year. And what was it that made them such fierce admirers of their homeland? Perhaps by writing our stories, we would find out. And that is how a long distance exchange of writings about travel, food, music and family histories began. Meanwhile, David began sketching the coastline, the houses, the olive trees and more. Each year we returned with a collection of our writings to share, revise, and edit. As a reading and writing teacher, Audrey gathered our work and experimented with ways it could become a book.
It is not often that we travelers share the voices of those who live where we wander. Beginning with the voices of the Salento peasants who called to each other as they worked the land so long ago, the five authors have continued that tradition and now call out to you, our readers. Will you fall in love with our book? Will you, the reader, want to try swimming off the rocky Adriatic coast? Will you long to wander through Salento’s olive groves? Eat fava beans and greens? Dance the local pizzica late into the night?
We hope you will read SALENTO BY 5 and answer with a resounding, “Yes.”
Audrey and David Fielding
About fourteen years ago, after earlier travels and Italian language study in northern and central Italy, we decided to visit southern Italy. With a bit of luck and little knowledge we found ourselves at the end of the train line in the university town of Lecce in southern Puglia with the business card of an Italian woman who Audrey had met in the airport a few weeks earlier. Should we accept her invitation to look her up? We did.
Luciana, the woman in the airport, introduced us to Carlo, her high school English teacher, and his wife Lucia. Our new friends, all from the same small Salento town and all fluent speakers of English, shared their food, music, and lives with us. At first glance, we were drawn to Salento’s blue seas, olive groves, and old stone walls but in the end, it was our friendship that drew us back each year to listen to more family stories and music, visit historical sites, and taste every local dish, thanks to Lucia’s and Luciana’s cooking. We began to understand how this region of Italy came to be so culturally, historically and politically unique.
Together with our Italian co-authors we often wondered aloud what was it that made us return year after year. And what was it that made them such fierce admirers of their homeland? Perhaps by writing our stories, we would find out. And that is how a long distance exchange of writings about travel, food, music and family histories began. Meanwhile, David began sketching the coastline, the houses, the olive trees and more. Each year we returned with a collection of our writings to share, revise, and edit. As a reading and writing teacher, Audrey gathered our work and experimented with ways it could become a book.
It is not often that we travelers share the voices of those who live where we wander. Beginning with the voices of the Salento peasants who called to each other as they worked the land so long ago, the five authors have continued that tradition and now call out to you, our readers. Will you fall in love with our book? Will you, the reader, want to try swimming off the rocky Adriatic coast? Will you long to wander through Salento’s olive groves? Eat fava beans and greens? Dance the local pizzica late into the night?
We hope you will read SALENTO BY 5 and answer with a resounding, “Yes.”
Audrey and David Fielding