From Tunisia to Brianza

Born to an Italian family in Tunisia, Mrs Rosa brought to Brianza the flavours and words of another shore of the Mediterranean.

The story of Mrs Rosa has stayed with me, especially in this period we are living through in Europe, of difficult integration with different cultures. Mrs Rosa had been born to an Italian family in Tunisia, in a historical moment when it was we Italians who emigrated and “colonised” countries on the other shore of the Mediterranean.

She remembered her childhood well. As with all memories, those tied to youth are the ones that stay most firmly fixed in the mind. With her Muslim neighbours, she told me, she had a good relationship, and from them she had learned to speak Arabic. She never failed to teach us a few words she still remembered, such as “salam” and the inevitable swear words.

Although she had left Tunisia young, she had nonetheless learned its cooking, and she was especially keen to tell us how to make “cous cous”, the typical North African dish she was very fond of, leaving out none of the details: two handfuls of wheat semolina, the right amount of water and vegetables sautéed separately in oil. It was moving to hear her talk — it seemed as though she were cooking at that very moment.

Not everything that is different is necessarily bad: indeed, it can even make us better.

After Tunisia she left for Sicily, before finally landing here in Brianza. She brought with her the traditions and memories of a youth spent in a “foreign” land, enriching her culture and ours with different traditions and teaching us that not everything that is different is necessarily bad, but can indeed make us better.

Collected by Riccardo Beretta, with Sara Mandaglio · AVO Concorezzo volunteer