Michael Imperioli Instagram – JOHN FANTE (1909-1983) was without a doubt one of the greatest American fiction writers of the last century: “I knew her troubled soul, and I pitied her. She was lonely, her roots dangling in an alien land. She had not wanted to come to America, but my grandfather had given her no other choice. There had been poverty in Abruzzi too, but it was a sweeter poverty that everyone shared like bread passed around. Death was shared too, and grief, and good times, and the village of Torricella Peligna was like a single human being. My grandmother was a finger torn from the rest of the body and nothing in the new life could assuage her desolation. She was like all those others who had come from her part of Italy. Some were better off, and some were wealthy, but the joy was gone from their lives, and the new country was a lonely place where “O Sole Mio” and “Come Back to Sorrento” were heartbreak songs.” -from “1933 Was a Bad Year “ #johnfante @eccobooks Note: Through the kindness of some followers i’ve learned that apparently this is a photo of the English poet Stephen Spender which proves that you should never believe anything you see on the internet.