This is a sweet and simple child's Italian rhyming game that my Nino (my paternal grandmother) used to play with me and my sister when we were babies. I am sure she used it to teach her boys (my Dad and Uncle) when they were just learning to talk, also. When I had my first child in 1986 I asked Nino to write down the words so I wouldn't forget. This is a poem/game that was passed down from her mother Caterina Bertanosco Brondolo (Nonna). It is a playful game for teaching facial body parts and family relations to a young child just learning the Italian language; I love the imagery of the church being your mouth and your nose being the church bell. I don't remember if there was a tune that went with it, but my favorite part was always the ding-ding, ding-ding!
A postcard of Vesime from Nino's extensive postcard collection.
Nino was born in the little northern Italian town of Vesime, Italy in 1911, and came to America through Ellis Island with her mother Caterina and two brothers in 1917 (see my earlier post from February 8, 2024 on her immigration experience). Vesime is located in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, and the unofficial but recognized regional dialect is Piedmontese (pew-mon-tase). It is a small country town dotted with vineyards, red tiled roofed houses and many chapels with ringing bells, referenced by the poem as "chiesa grande col campaning che fa ding ding-ding ding"... (essentially the ringing bells in the church tower). It isn't hard to imagine the sounds of church bells ringing daily in town and what a meaningful connection that would be to a small child. Imagine your nose ringing like the church bells!
Nonna (Caterina Bertanosco Brondolo) holding her great granddaughter Stephanie (my sister) in 1967. Photograph taken in Nevada City, California.
Nino, Nonna (holding my baby sister Stephanie), Dad (Dale Boothby) and myself 1967. Photograph taken in Nevada City, California.
Like many immigrants of her era Nino wanted her children to grow up speaking English. So, my Dad and Uncle didn't learn their mother's native language. She did use certain phrases and words with the family on a regular basis. "Manga" was frequently used during family get togethers. And we always used the phrase "Ti Amo" when we said our goodbyes. There might be some choice swear words in Italian that are still used...... When I was born, Nino originally wanted me to call her "Nonnina" which meant "little Nonna" (little grandma) but when I began talking the best I could do was "Nino", which of course stuck, and she became everybody's Nino.
When Mom was taking voice lessons as part of her music major studies at UOP she needed help with Italian art songs. Some of the songs were familiar to Nino so she helped Mom with the pronunciation and meaning of words. Nino was a lifelong devoted fan of Italian operas, also. She adored Beverly Sills.
But Nino also realized that the vocabulary and dialect that she and her mother Caterina and brother Frank still used with each other here came from "the old country". She was essentially still speaking the Italian of her six- year-old self that left Italy in 1917. Nino had been having trouble translating the letters her brother in Italy would send because she did not know the evolving and more modern vocabulary of Italy. She took a trip to Italy to visit family in 1972. When she came back she said her Italian had not "kept up" with the times. So, she took Italian lessons while living in Sonoma so she could understand the Italian that was used by her extended family in Italy. I have some of the letters her brother and other family members wrote to her in the 70's. I may need to take Italian lessons also! I would love to someday hear their voices through their writing.
But for now I will remember this sweet poem and the connection it represents between the "old country" and Nino's life lived in California. It is time to teach it to my grandchildren!
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Nino (on the right) around 1920, shortly after coming to San Francisco. She was learning to speak English at school.
Relationship Reference: Me->Dale Boothby->Tersilla Brondolo Boothby (Nino)-> Caterina Bertanosco Brondolo (Nona)
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