DOI chapter:
Chapter VIII: Sorrento
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0331
Sorrento
simplicity of a fisher population contrasts with the in-
tellectual corruption of the over-sophisticated Neapolitan.
This is a trait noticeable more or less in all the little
fishing towns along the coast. The fisher-folks are
robust and honest, fine types of healthy and hard-work-
ing men. They have, moreover, a strong individuality
of their own, and a delicate, if intricate, sense of
humour, all the more remarkable because humour plays
so slight a part in the Italian character. The fact that
this little population can intermarry almost entirely
among themselves for so many generations, and
produce such splendid types of physique, is a striking
proof of their vitality. The deformities which fill the
little towns of Italy produce here only a quaint stunted
growth, still healthy and strong, human gargoyles with
a dignity of their own, like the dwarfs of Velasquez.
The women, too, may be said to be even stronger than
the men. The work they do is often harder than
that done by men—and that in spite of the enormous
families they rear. Women, young and quite old,
may be seen toiling along the road to Sorrento beneath
burdens which even a Northern labourer would hesitate
to fasten upon his back. They wear short petticoats,
showing their bare legs, and feet bound with twisted
rags to steady the ankles—a strange sight at first.
They say “ Buon giorno ” light-heartedly as we pass
them, and the sturdy simplicity of their lives is such
that the problems which preoccupy us do not exist for
them.
Perhaps the Sorrentians occasionally trade somewhat
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simplicity of a fisher population contrasts with the in-
tellectual corruption of the over-sophisticated Neapolitan.
This is a trait noticeable more or less in all the little
fishing towns along the coast. The fisher-folks are
robust and honest, fine types of healthy and hard-work-
ing men. They have, moreover, a strong individuality
of their own, and a delicate, if intricate, sense of
humour, all the more remarkable because humour plays
so slight a part in the Italian character. The fact that
this little population can intermarry almost entirely
among themselves for so many generations, and
produce such splendid types of physique, is a striking
proof of their vitality. The deformities which fill the
little towns of Italy produce here only a quaint stunted
growth, still healthy and strong, human gargoyles with
a dignity of their own, like the dwarfs of Velasquez.
The women, too, may be said to be even stronger than
the men. The work they do is often harder than
that done by men—and that in spite of the enormous
families they rear. Women, young and quite old,
may be seen toiling along the road to Sorrento beneath
burdens which even a Northern labourer would hesitate
to fasten upon his back. They wear short petticoats,
showing their bare legs, and feet bound with twisted
rags to steady the ankles—a strange sight at first.
They say “ Buon giorno ” light-heartedly as we pass
them, and the sturdy simplicity of their lives is such
that the problems which preoccupy us do not exist for
them.
Perhaps the Sorrentians occasionally trade somewhat
20 153