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Questions and Answers About Being a Missionary in Italy
In this electronic book (e-book), "Pasta, Pizza, and Pinocchio," Howard Culbertson answers questions he has been asked about missionary work in Italy. Originally published by the Nazarene publishing house now known as The Foundry for the Nazarene Missions International mission book series, the book carried ISBN 0-8341-0612-4.
This chapter largely reflects our missionary experience in Italy during the 1970s and early 1980s. Unless otherwise noted, prices, statistics, and descriptions refer to that period. Some material has been updated for this e-book edition.
No, it was not. Some people have wondered whether the architect designed it that way as a giant practical joke. That seems unlikely. Construction began in 1173 and, with long interruptions, continued until 1372.
The tower began to lean during construction because its foundation settled unevenly in the soft underlying soil.
The tower's increasing lean once raised serious concerns about its stability. Engineering work in the 1990s and early 2000s reduced the lean and stabilized the structure.
During our years in Italy, you could climb the spiral staircase to the upper gallery for about $1. From the top, you could enjoy a magnificent view of Pisa, a city where we did not have a Church of the Nazarene at the time.
Why should they? An American contractor from Houston told me his firm had the technology to straighten the tower and had offered its services to the Italian government. According to him, the offer was declined because of the expense and the desire to preserve a famous tourist attraction.
Engineers later reduced the lean without eliminating it. According to a famous, though disputed, story, Galileo used the tower for experiments with falling bodies. That association has made it a landmark in the history of science as well.
Italy's art and archaeological experts have an enormous job protecting historic buildings and ruins from further deterioration. It has even been humorously suggested that the Italian government is going to ruin keeping up its ruins.
When this book was first published, the combined annual operating budgets for Italian museums, national historic sites, and archaeological excavations were reported to be roughly comparable to the annual U.S. government subsidy for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
That depends on the comparison. During our missionary years, Italy was less affluent than some of its northern European neighbors, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland. Compared with most countries, however, it could not be labeled "poor."
Italy now uses the euro, and its exchange rate against the U.S. dollar varies. When we arrived in 1974, Italy's currency was the lira. At one point during our missionary years, it took about 1,500 lire to equal one U.S. dollar. That did not mean we pushed around wheelbarrows full of money: banknotes were issued in denominations as large as 100,000 lire.
The banknotes we used featured cultural and scientific figures rather than political leaders. Galileo appeared on the 2,000-lira note, Christopher Columbus on the 5,000-lira note, and Michelangelo on the 10,000-lira note.
Wages varied considerably by occupation and location. Figures cited around the time we first arrived in Italy illustrate the differences.
An elementary school teacher in Milan earned the equivalent of about $4,200 in gross annual wages, compared with $18,062 for a counterpart in Los Angeles, California. An Italian auto mechanic might have earned about $4,080 that year, compared with $16,400 in Chicago. These are historical figures expressed in U.S. dollars, not current salary estimates.
A study cited when this book was originally published, by Organization Resources Counselors, estimated that buying in Rome what $1,000 would buy in New York City cost about $1,400. A Union Bank of Switzerland study, using a different approach, estimated Italian purchasing power at about 50 to 60 percent of that in the United States.
Those historical comparisons suggested that many Italian families had less purchasing power than American families.
The Italian Nazarenes we knew included widows living on very limited incomes, Fiat assembly-line workers, house painters, nurses, computer technicians, railroad conductors, and wholesale toy dealers. Many lived in small apartments and owned one car and one television. Some chose to do without a car.
Yes. During our years in Italy, the homes we visited generally had electricity, running water, and indoor bathrooms. Kitchens commonly had a small refrigerator, and an automatic washing machine might stand next to the sink.
Those kitchens usually contained fewer electrical appliances than American kitchens. Garbage disposals, electric can openers, slow cookers, microwave ovens, and clothes dryers were uncommon in the homes we knew.
Not necessarily. An appreciation for craftsmanship, style, and beauty led many Italians we knew to prefer high-quality shoes, even at a premium price. The same was true of clothing. Inexpensive Italian-made goods available abroad did not necessarily reflect what we found in local shops.
In the summer of 1978, postage for a first-class letter within Italy cost the equivalent of 7 cents more than postage for a first-class letter within the United States. When we arrived four years earlier, domestic letter postage in Italy had cost about half as much as in the United States. An Italian aerogram cost almost twice what the U.S. postal system charged for one.
Yes, postage was a substantial expense for us and our churches. Missionaries handled a great deal of correspondence, and in a typical month, Barbara and I might spend $20 or more on postage. We generally bought stamps a few at a time. It seemed to hurt less that way.
At the time of the original edition, Italy's population was approximately 55 million, about one-fourth that of the United States. Italy was described as the world's 14th most populous country. Its population density was about 180 people per square kilometer, compared with about 22 in the United States. These figures describe that period.
Stereotypes seem to run decades behind reality. Italian families had been larger in earlier generations — as had American families. By our missionary years, economic and social changes had contributed to smaller families.
Yes, land and construction were expensive. Because of those costs, we acquired church facilities in a variety of ways. We built three churches from the ground up: Florence, Civitavecchia, and Sarzana.
We acquired existing buildings and remodeled them for congregations in Rome, Catania, and Calatafimi. In Moncalieri, we bought a half-completed furniture warehouse, adapted it, and completed it for use as a church.
In Cuneo, La Spezia, Tarquinia, Torre Annunziata, and Ottaviano, we rented ground-floor shops and other spaces in apartment buildings, converting them into sanctuaries and classrooms.
At the time of the original edition, we rented one home for missionaries, an apartment in Naples. The rent was about $250 a month plus utilities for a simple, three-bedroom, unfurnished apartment.
"Unfurnished" meant more than having no furniture: the apartment also lacked kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, a water heater, and closets.
Let me illustrate my answer by telling you about Vincenza. Not long after we moved to Florence, 80-year-old Vincenza Granese arrived early for church one Sunday morning. As she entered the sanctuary, she asked me for a broom. A broom? I found one for her. She took it outside and began sweeping the sidewalk. It had looked pretty clean to me, but she wanted it cleaner.
In the cities we knew, rubbish collection and street sweeping were regular services. Many women we knew wore soft slippers while working at home, helping keep floors clean and polished.
Don't let the weathered exteriors of older buildings or occasional litter obscure the pride many Italians take in caring for their homes and surroundings.
During our missionary years, I noticed differences in how family life shaped women's influence in Italy and the United States. In the American families I knew, status was often linked to the professional, economic, or political achievements of individual members. Among many Italian families we knew, influence rested more strongly in the family as a whole. Fathers were often regarded as its formal heads, while mothers played a central role in everyday family life.
That did not mean Italian women faced no struggles. The family-law reforms of 1975 addressed inequalities between husbands and wives. Despite the reverence shown to Mary, women in everyday life did not always receive comparable respect. Pornography, which reduces women to sexual objects, was another concern.
Italian women gained voting rights in 1945. In Great Britain, some women gained parliamentary voting rights in 1918, with equal voting rights following in 1928.
During our years in Italy, many evangelical churches we encountered restricted women's opportunities for pastoral leadership. Among Nazarenes, Niny Del Rosso provided a memorable example of a woman whose gifts benefited the church despite such barriers. Some said she was a better preacher and pastor than her husband, Alfredo, although she was never granted even a local preacher's license.
Was it hard to learn Italian? . . . Is illegal drug use a problem in Italy? . . . Has the apartment boom hit Italy? . . . [ more ]
