"Los inmigrantes"
Some say Argentina is a country made of Italians who speak Spanish. That never seemed so true after a few days here, when I realised this country really shares some of the most hateful and lovely features of my home country.
What I found very interesting was the everyday references that people make to their Italian or Spanish ancestors and the celebration of immigration to Argentina as key moment in this nation's history.
To make sense of the importance of immigration, I first visited the 'Hotel de Los Inmigrantes' in Buenos Aires, an enormous and at the time beautiful building where immigrants arriving from Europe were hosted and provided with a job. In San Antonio de Areco I was lucky enough to watch a beautiful play, 'L'America': this showed very vividly how poor Italian and Spanish immigrants mixed together to effectively give origin to the first true Argentinian generation. Played half in Italian and half in spanish, it was a true example of the "mescla" that is this country
The night ended with a surprise when I met the Carugati family, whose origins trace back to a village next to hometown! what are the chances!
I want to thank the Carugati sisters for sharing the amazing story of their family and for being so friendly. This really proved to me the unique bond between Argentina and Italy!
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| Con la famiglia Carugati |
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