More than just a food and wine book, “South of Somewhere: Wine, Food, and The Soul of Italy” by award-winning author Robert Camuto explores the challenges, spirit of renaissance and innovation taking place among the winemakers of southern Italy. Camuto, who has lived in Europe for over twenty years, is an author and contributing editor to Wine Spectator. He moved to Verona in 2015, where he set about digging deeply into the culture and soul of Italian wine and food.
Wine is the unifying theme of Camuto’s pilgrimage through the Italian south, probably the only unifier among today’s vestiges of its many historic tribes. The book is organized by these “states”, and over nine chapters, Camuto journeys from childhood memories of a long ago summer spent visiting family in a seaside village, to today’s gritty realities of economy and innovation within small family businesses that have spanned generations. The classic Latin phrase, “In vino, veritas” or “In wine there is truth” seems appropriate, because Camuto uses the vessel of wine not only to tell the story of today’s Italian south, but also to pour philosophy and reflection from the colorful cast of characters.
From the volcanic slopes of Sicily’s Mt. Etna to the hilltop medieval villages of Umbria, this journey through Italy’s southern states is a kaleidoscope of emotions: philosophical, melancholic, jubilant, defiant and at times, lamenting the passage of time. These southern wine regions grapple with inherent poverty and lack of resources that has led to the younger generation leaving for the big cities, never to return. Pulling at the thread of wine production among families, the struggles of a family business is revealed, an intensely personal yet universal truth for those wishing to pass on a legacy to their children. Intimately connected to their terroir, the younger generation of winemakers seek change and profit, while creating a lasting bond to the past by preserving cultural traditions. Hopeful and inspiring, you find yourself rooting for the wine revolution going on in southern Italy.
While the passages detailing the viticulture and winemaking might not be comprehended easily by those not versed in what these techniques bring to the finished wine, there are underlying lessons to the challenges faced by the winemakers. Life lessons are planted among the personal winemaker stories, which makes it so intriguing. “Doing less is more", "bigger is not necessarily better", and “life is like staying on a bicycle, just keep pedaling to keep from falling down” are just a few of the nuggets found among the pages. The passages are spiced with the use of Italian, and then translating it, adding to the authenticity, flavor and romance of the profiles.
Italians usually never drink wine by itself, it is served with food that enhances and enriches the whole. On the rare occasions that wine is drunk by itself, they refer to it as a “meditation wine”. Here, Camuto’s book serves as the meditation wine, where the meaning of life, however personal, can be found in its swirling passages. It’s fascinating and enthralling, like a fine wine, where you pause to savor the many vivid observations and digest the wisdom revealed in characterful dialogue. The good and the bad, beauty and blight, future hope and fatalism, it all comes together in a tapestry of contradictions and commonalities that we can all relate to.
Camuto embarked on a US West Coast book tour in early March, where he promoted “South of Somewhere” and visited many wine regions along the way. Kicking off the tour, he spent an evening with the Los Angeles IACCW (Italian-American Chamber of Commerce West), signing books, answering questions and reading passages of his book. And since it was International Women’s Day, the wines poured reflected the increasing importance of women in Italian winemaking. Camuto’s conclusion of what he experienced researching and writing this book? “The wine world is full of surprises, there’s no dogma, no one way of doing things.” The same could probably be said about life.
“South of Somewhere: Wine, Food, and the Soul of Italy” was named as one of the best wine books of 2021 by the New York Times, The Washington Post and many more. It can be purchased online at Amazon, University of Nebraska Press, or many other outlets listed at robertcamuto.com