Overview

On November 11, 1943, the Nazis invaded Cansano, forcing its two thousand inhabitants to make a tough decision--fight and be killed or sent to a POW camp, stay behind as servants to the Nazis, or move into the unforgiving mountains of Abruzzo while the Nazis used their village as a home base. Giovanni Ruscitti's family chose the latter and spent the next few months living in horrendous winter conditions in the rugged mountains. When the war ended, they returned to a village so ravaged by the Nazis that, today, the town has less than two hundred citizens and remains in a dilapidated state. In this memoir, Ruscitti visits Cansano for the first time with his family, including parents Emiliano and Maria. As he walks Cansano's cobblestones, his father's stories and life are illuminated by the town piazza, the steep valley, and the surrounding mountains. He relives the tales of his parents' struggles during World War II, their extreme post-war misery and poverty, their budding romance after, and their decision to immigrate to the US in search of the American Dream. Ruscitti's adventure is not just an exploration of his homeland but reveals what family, culture, wisdom, and love really means. And what our heritage really tells us about who we are.

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"Moving memoir...should resonate with readers similarly gripped by the struggle to understand their origins. A captivating, candid, and insightful account about a man's Italian heritage.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"""

Author Information

Giovanni Ruscitti, Esq. is a first generation Italian-American who grew up in Frederick, Colorado, a small coal mining town that his parents and grandparents immigrated to in the 1950s and early 1960s. A nationally recognized attorney, arbitrator, and mediator, as well as a frequent speaker at national legal events, Giovanni is the managing partner of national law firm Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti, LLP. He holds a degree in economics and a MBA from the University of Colorado, as well as a JD from Denver University. In 2022, he was named as one of the most influential business leaders in Colorado, and has served on numerous non-profit boards. He is currently the chair of the executive committee of the Boulder Economic Council, on the board of directors of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and a member of Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Board of Governors. Giovanni and his wife of over thirty years, Aggie Blake-Ruscitti, have three adult children, Dante, Donato, and Izabella. Giovanni and Aggie currently live outside Boulder, Colorado, where they enjoy traveling, biking, hiking, yoga, and Italian wines. Noah James Butler originally hails from New Mexico. He received his first taste of the business of show as an extra on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, after which he began tirelessly pursuing any form of performance he could get himself into. This brought him to The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, and upon graduation, on to The College of Santa Fe, where he received a degree in philosophy. Moving to Oakland, California, he quickly created a thriving theater career, and then discovered voice-over. His love of listening to old-time radio shows, especially The Mercury Theatre's production of Orson Welles's War of the Worlds, finally landed Noah in the realm of audiobooks. It was love at first listen, and Noah set out to create a truly immersive experience for the listener.

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