The House that Giacomo Built
History of an Italian Family, 1898-1978

The House that Giacomo Built is the engaging story of the struggle, perseverance and success of an Italian working-class family to achieve its goal of stability and family unity.

Donald S. Pitkin (Author)

9780521103879, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 December 2008

264 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.39 kg

The House that Giacomo Built is the engaging story of the struggle, perseverance and success of an Italian working-class family to achieve its goal of stability and family unity. It begins with the unremittingly impoverished lives of Giulia and Giovanni Tassoni. We later follow the fortunes of Maria, their daughter and her husband Giacomo. They continue the struggle for a life of greater ease, which is eventually achieved when Giacomo builds the family a new house on a plot of seven acres won in a lottery, thereby transporting them into modern times. Industrialism in the area brings further prosperity to the family. In addition to being a compelling family story, the book also vividly shows how extended families, like the one established by Giacomo and Maria, seem to defy the widely held beliefs concerning the alleged disintegrative effects of industrialism and consequent prosperity on family organisation. Although they have achieved a relative affluence, members of Italian families like theirs do not seek independence from the family group but choose to remain together, without feeling that they are forfeiting their right to be individuals in their own way.

Prologue
Introduction
1. Stilo 1898–1933
2. Valmonte 1933–1943
3. The War
4. The travail of Concetta
5. The engagement and marriage of Maria Tassoni and Giacomo Rossi 1948–1953
6. The births of Luigi and Bruno
7. The births of Teresa and Caterina
8. The house of Giacomo
9. Life in the country
10. The house of Luigi
11. The house of Bruno
Conclusion
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]