Incontri Tra/Montani - 30 Years

Incontri Tra/Montani means "Meetings Between/Mountains," and to the best of my knowledge was formed to provide a political voice to communities in the eastern Alps of Lombardy, Trentino, and also to other Alpine communities who are often overlooked. I think it's comparable to rural Upper Michigan building an "embassy" near the capitol in Lansing to provide a voice for the detached region. ITM turned 30 last year. I believe that province of Sondrio, the Brescian Tri-Valley, and the Bergamo Alps encompasses a strong cultural milieu as well. Naturally we would like to express solidarity with them.

 

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http://www.incontritramontani.it/

https://www.facebook.com/Incontritramontani/

https://twitter.com/itm1990

https://incontritramontani.academia.edu/incontritramontani

 

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INCONTRI TRAMONTANI - (PIEVE DI BONO-PREZZO)

gianni beordo

Trentesima edizione: Incontri Tramontani

 

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Museo Scuola Rango
"Bello!"

 

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A brief history

Incontri Tra/Montani was born in 1990 from a chance meeting between cultural associations of Valle Camonica and Val Trompia. From the observation of a lack of communication between the valleys and from the reading of the great difficulties in which the mountain communities finds itself (exodus, destructive interventions, youth unemployment, etc.), the idea arose of an annual conference that would begin to create a network of non-institutional relations between groups operating in the Italian, Swiss, Austrian, and French Alps with the aim of promoting mutual knowledge, collaboration, exchange of analysis and possible proposals.

In the term Tra/Montani there is a double meaning: 1) The need for dialogue and the consciousness of the sunset of a civilization that was at the center of the pre-industrial economy since all medieval "machines" needed the energy produced by the fall of water.

The study and reflection meetings on issues of common interest in Alpine resorts have been organized regularly since 1990 and touch on topics of various kinds and locations that are always different.

The ITM to which the Valle Camonica, the Giudicarie Valleys, the Val di Sole, Valtellina, Val Seriana, Val Cavallina, Carnia, and Val Verzasca adhere to permanently, has no official seat, nor a statute. It is a self-managed, spontaneous, and free thinking.

Membership of the ITM Group is open to all associations, study centres and cultural groups in the Alps.

'History of the ITM' by Giancarlo Maculotti (pdf file)

 

The following all collaborated in the realization of the ITM:

• Associazione Comitato Organizzatore Festa di Trate - Gaverina Terme (Bergamo)
• Associazione IVS Inventario delle Vie di Comunicazione Storiche (Milano)
• Centro Studi e Ricerche Archivio Bergamasco (Bergamo)
• Centro Studi Etnografici Val Imagna S. Omobono Imagna (Bergamo)
• Centro Studi Judicaria – Tione (Trento)
• Centro Studi Val di Sole – Malè (Trento)
• Centro Studi Valchiavennaschi Chiavenna (Sondrio)
• Circolo Culturale Baradello Clusone (Bergamo)
• Circolo Culturale Ghislandi Cividate Camuno (Brescia)
• Comune di Montereale Valcellina Montereale Valcellina (Pordenone)
• Cooperativa Arca Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia)
• Cooperativa Il Chiese - Storo (Trento)
• Fondazione Progetto Poschiavo Poschiavo (Svizzera)
• Fondazione Val Verzasca Canton Ticino (Svizzera)
• L’Arcilettore, Circolo di Sondrio (Sondrio)
• Museo Etnografico S. Caterina Valfurva (Sondrio)
• Museo Etnografico Tiranese - Tirano (Sondrio)
• Pro Vita Alpina - Längenfeld (Austria)

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Swiss Italians in Australia

It should be clarified that the proper term is "Swiss Italian," not Italian Swiss. As has been covered here before, an immigration--earlier than that to California--had been to the state of Victoria, Australia. Just like with other smaller Alpine regions, such as Val Camonica or Valtellina, the Swiss Italians/Ticinese have a local type of cuisine. It appears that there were many similarities between the California settlers and the Victoria settlers.

Swiss Italians of Australia

Swiss Italians of Australia, are Italian-speaking Swiss that settled in Australia during the 1850s and 1860s. The Swiss Italians initially settled in the area around Daylesford, Victoria. The Swiss settlers were from the canton of Ticino and the southern part of Graubünden

The influence of the Swiss Italians of Australia—Italian-speaking Swiss from the cantons of Ticino and Grison and the northern Italians is still present in the township of Hepburn Springs—through the names of its residents, the names of its springs (Locarno) and buildings (Savoia Hotel, Parma House, Perinis, Bellinzona) and the annual Swiss-Italian Festa.

The heart of the Italian-speaking community was the area around the Savoia (Spring Creek) Hotel and the Macaroni Factory. The Savoia is named after the royal family of unified Italy. An Italian reading library was located at the hotel and pasta was made opposite in Lucini's Macaroni Factory which was also home to the Democratic Club. Lucini's moved from Lonsdale Street, Melbourne in 1865, where they had set up as the first pasta factory in Australia in 1864. Vanzetta's bakery supplied bread to the community and Crippa, Perini, and the Gervasoni's (Yandoit Creek) produced wine.

In 2007 the Melbourne Immigration Museum featured a display entitled Wine Water and Stone reflecting the Swiss and Italian heritage of the area.

Swiss Italian food and culture

The Swiss Italians loved sport, food, and music. Their influence on local culture is celebrated annually during the Swiss Italian Festa. Swiss Italians of Australia have made their mark in spheres of art, music, literature, journalism, sport, education, science, and engineering.

A local delicacy is bullboar, which is a sausage made from beef, pork, garlic, and spices. Local families jealously guard their recipes. In 2005 Daylesford Secondary College came in second place in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Young Gourmets by making bullboars from the Gervasoni and Sartori recipes, which gained much media attention over the fate of Charlotte the pig, with little concern for the steer involved. The bullboar has been named an endangered recipe by the Slow Food Movement.

The Hepburn Springs Swiss and Italian Festa is an annual  five day celebration in late October of the area's Swiss Italian and Northern Italian heritage, with music, food, art, wine etc. Ticino and Val Camonica are very kindred cultures, both being Lombard-speaking mountain communities. The Lombard cultural relationship doesn't just end because some long ago German king decided to build a fence. This is a part of our culture as well. 

There are local (Bay Area) Swiss Italian events, and in other parts of the state, but they're hard to find as they would usually only pertain to those of that cultural family; and perhaps through the "Pro Ticino" clubs. However, there should basically be no difference between--for example--the Ticinese of west Marin County and the Milanese of east Marin County. Not only does the canton of Ticino border with the province of Milano, but both are from the same "West Lombard" dialect.

I came across an article on the Switzerland information website entitled 'Italian Swiss... or Swiss Italians?' Although interesting, that issue has been covered here before. Still, I wanted to link it for anyone interesting in reading up on it. The Ticino question becomes important to us partly because of the large past immigration in a few areas, and because we should bridge the gap finally with the idea of "Lombard cultural identity."

The "clan" concept is great, but let us not forget the ancient nation of Lumbardia. One "Lumbard" cultural family: Bergamo, Brescia/Val Camonica, Como, Cremona, Lodi, Mantova, Milano, Monza/Brianza, Pavia, Sondrio (Valtellina/Valchiavenna), Süd Graubünden/Val Poschiavo, Ticino, and Varese.

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The decline of the spiritual clan

There are many writings about the decline of the family unit, but that's not exactly what I mean by "clan," and I wish to go in a little bit of a different direction. To even discuss "the family unit"--due to contrived politics, conflicting values, disinformation, etc.--can be problematic in of itself. One of the UN's stated goals from the start is the elimination of the family unit, just as the Communists had declared before them. Then we can document the Fabianist bankers having regular meetings with the Communist International for a long period of time, and other such strange and dangerous bedfellows... suffice to say that "the family" doesn't have many true proponents on the true-literal far right or far left. Bella Dodd was one important person who told her account of this type of manipulation of our country, and many others by these people. Their job is as it's always been.. to take the normal working and business class for everything their worth. They're the predators, and we're the prey. However, there is a different type of social phenomenon that has taken place over the decades. One more subtle, and is perhaps more of an unintended consequence.

There was a time where common people lived in close proximity to the graves of their ancestors, some of which they never knew. There was a well defined "homestead," most often the house of the passively dominant family of a clan. I think "clan" can sometimes also mean a larger collective of people who are very similar. People that one would grow up with. I saw a program this past year about the Amish, and at one point there was a brief shot from outside an Amish homestead in the early evening. The windows of the house stood out in the darkness, and the kindred inside could be heard singing Christian themed songs together. I find it telling that Americans are now so interested in the Amish world, even though it would seem that they are socially cut off from the larger society. Could it be human instinct that people may feel that the Amish "have" something that is missing in their own lives? That sense of true community. Even in certain traditional Italian-American communities, even in places that one may not thing of.. like Kansas City or St. Louis.. there is a close-knot sense of community where even people who are not related are still considered "family."

The movie 'Indian Summer' (1993) was about a summer camp in the northern woods which was closing, and the longtime camp director (played by Alan Arkin) decided to invite a few of the former attendees from the camp's "golden age" who were now in their early 30s (Diane Lane, Bill Paxton, Vincent Spano, etc.).. up to spend a week or two. Of course this would be unlikely to really happen, but it's was a fun creative license anyway. When people begin their adult lives, everything changes, and it's not the same as when they were kids and they shared experiences together in a different way. I saw part of a movie this past week--which I had watched numerous times before--entitled 'Dazed N' Confused' (1993) about people from eighth grade to early twenties in 1976 Austin, Texas... although it could have well been in many places. Near the end of the movie, a group of friends were on a football field at night, drinking beer and talking about the meaning of life in a lively candid way that adults would rarely do. It was the last day of school, and they stayed out all night, and then it showed the sun rising on a calm clear morning.

More to the point, eventually people within a town or district move on, and the sense of community and kindred spirits break up. Of course, this may not happen in every instance.. but more frequently than not. The movie 'Beautiful Girls' (1996) reflected this. Former students, now about 30, from a town in rural Massachusetts come home for a high school reunion. Some had moved far away mostly for economic reasons, to big cities; while others still lived in the area. Realistically, some people wish to cling to their roots, while others can't wait to do away with it.. if for no other reason than a change in scenery; or maybe they grew up in a bad place. Still, those bonds from childhood are broken. In larger urban areas, this type of change is due mostly to mass movements of people, but the results are pretty much the same. As far as the family unit, this also frequently becomes more and more detached over time. For example, children may not really even know their grandparents. However, the internet may have aided this dilemma a bit.

About two weeks ago I brought a few boxes of items to the Salvation Army to donate. This process of letting go of things may or may not be difficult for people. Usually it's just "stuff".. and nothing to cry over. One of the items I brought there was a Christmas themed stuffed polar bear mama which my mother had brought out during the holidays. It was stored in plastic bags, so it is still like new. She no longer cares about it, and I decided to donate it along with other "stuff." As I drove away, and for the next three or so miles, I realized that I wasn't ready to give it up. I drove back, and reclaimed it. I felt a childhood connection to it, as like a representation of my mother and holiday memories.

I think because so many things from our early memories of family and community are taken away, we may occasionally want to cling to items from our past. I think many people think about.. something like the idea of taking a walk on perhaps a cold dark early evening on Christmas Eve, and as they walk back to the homestead they see the window, the Christmas tree, the lights, and the warmth inside. Their family, their mother, their father, and they don't want to think that it's gone in the sense that their parents can continue on as powerful maternal or paternal figures long after the nuclear unit is detached. Perhaps I'm rambling on a bit, but if you can imagine times when you may have put a lot of stock in a new person who later betrays you... then you think of certain people who were in your corner all along.. who maybe you had gotten away from for too long. That spiritual sense of clan and community is a fragile thing.

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Politics, double-standards, and tattle tales in neopaganism

I thought I would combine three items which I have found troubling in neopaganism. First, individuals and groups who insist on being the polar opposite of what they perceive as "Conservative Christianity." They go out of their way to be this opposite--to me, "opposame"--and it very often revolves around an obsession to the issue of homosexuality. Even if you don't like where you at least think I'm going with this, just allow me one example, and you might change your mind.

A couple of months ago, I came across a website called "Pagan FM," and it is a pagan radio program out of Dover, New Hampshire. Not a podcast, but literally a radio program over the airwaves. My first reaction was that it was a great idea, and I still think that. I even find the simple and almost pleasantly hard-to-navigate website to be inviting. However, the times when I listened to archived programs, they discussed "gay activism" more than neopaganism. Of course, it's their program and they can discuss whatever they like. Still, it goes back to this incessant desire to be political; and to insist that the individual accepts those politics when they may be searching for something entirely apolitical.

I can recall one YouTube video where a man had just become a "Wiccan," and his background was as a political activist. He seemed to know next to nothing about Wicca, and while wearing a pentacle star, he shamelessly injected his personal political activity to his newfound religion. I admit, that is an extreme example, but I found it to be detestable nonetheless. There are some even deeper issues in that regard, but I think I'll just let that stand for now.

The opposite side to the same political coin are the far right groups involved in.. usually heathenry, but all of this doesn't follow any exact pattern. Suffice to say that people with a far left or far right inclination seem to clearly be attracted to neopaganism. Lets be clear, I am only referring to concerns who have "gone political." There is a group called "Heathens Against Hate," which purports to be opposed to anything racist or racialist within the Heathen/Odinic milieu. One of the complaints is the use of ancient sacred symbols, which are injected into those far right politics; which is--in my opinion--precisely the same as the political "Wiccan" example above. I'll have to find that video.

The problem with Heathens Against Hate, and other groups who share the same complaints, is that they don't stop at "hate" or the misuse of symbols. They define "hate" as anyone who adheres to the "folk-religion" concept, or at least they imply that. That's clearly a double-standard because I'm in California, and I know that there are endless masses of social, political, economic, and religious groups that the members of Heathens Against Hate cannot join because of their ancestry. That includes mens groups, womens groups, youth groups, professional associations, economic guilds, political action committees, religious and spiritual groups, etc., and the "Heathens Against Hate" are not allowed to join due to their ancestral background. I don't like double-standards.

Even a non-political folk group like the Asatru Folk Assembly is not immune to this extreme double-standard. In September of 2011, the pagan web-blog "The Wild Hunt" shamelessly tattled on the AFA because a few AFA members wore AFA t-shirts to an explicitly white-political-interest event which was not endorsed in any way by the AFA. Why hasn't The Wild Hunt told any tattle tales about the hundreds of other identity-political groups in the country?? Quite frequently, the religious and political branches of these groups work together as one. About a mile and a half from where I live, there is a hospital explicitly for people of one particular cultural background, aka "race." I'll share the name of that institution with The Wild Hunt if they want to write about it. My e-mail is camunlynx@live.com.

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