Episode 151: Italian Folklore: Rituals, Celebrations and Ancient Traditions with Gina M. Miele PhD

“Italy presents a unique religious landscape where holy and heretical practices coexist without contradiction. Italian communities developed the ability to hold multiple spiritual truths simultaneously, a distinctive approach that emerged from centuries of cultural accumulation where each historical era left its mark without erasing those that came before. To understand Italian folk tradition and why it still resonates today, we must first encounter this capacity for synthesis in its lived forms”

- Gina M. Miele, Italian Folklore

Welcome to Episode #151:

Today we gather to share a conversation about keeping the traditions of ancient Italy alive. Dr Gina M. Miele, Professor of Italian studies at Montclair State University in the US is here to talk about her beautiful book Italian Folklore: Rituals, Celebrations, and Ancient Traditions.

Gina is a treasure trove of information and lived experience, her book Italian Folklore is the perfect companion, providing us a synthesis of the history, the knowledge, the traditions, the secrets and yet celebrating the sacred, the daily, while honouring the folkloric traditions, the oral wisdom, the past, the ancestry and the spirit of the old ways in Italy. 

Gina is a wonderful story teller, she holds space for the old and the new and shares a way to walk the path between the mystical and the mundane in Italian culture, that many ways, the many layers can co-exist, be honoured and celebrated.

As a lover of books, the beauty of this work and the illustration is also an invitation. The design is by Italian artist and designer Sylvia Virgillo is another special layer to this book,  you will want to hold this work in your hands and open to a page to see for yourself. 

Italian Folklore is on preorder and released on the 29th September and I thought I would publish this share on the Feast Day of Saint Gennaro of Naples, and there is a reason for that you will get to know at the end of our conversation. 

Napoli, Cornicello for protection in the restaurant wall - Image by Michelle Johnston

Shownotes:

Italian Folklore: Rituals, Celebrations and Ancient Traditions by Dr. Gina M. Miele

Visit Gina on Instagram @profgmm

Morgan Library - Exhibition: Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions

Visconti Tarot Book by Giordano Berti, Tiberio Gonard

Della Medicina: The Tradition of Italian-American Folk Healing by Lisa Fazio

Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino

In the Shadow of a Cypress by Michelle Johnston (Illustrated & Designed by Madeline Johnston)

My daughter Maddy wearing her cornicello amulet (charm) for protection!