Italian Wisdom

From bumper stickers to self-help books and everything in between, people love having deep and complex thoughts presented to them in simple, short, and sometimes amusing sayings. Italian Wisdom or the World According to John is a compilation of quirky pearls of folk wisdom passed down from an Italian father to his children. John Calderone grew up in two worlds, a tight Italian community on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and the larger world of a multi-cultural America on its way to becoming a major world power. He experienced first hand the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the booming growth that followed two world wars. A raconteur by nature, John loved to tell the tales of the life he lived and the experiences he had. John saw the world through his own unique lens. He had a long list of pithy phrases he used to express the conclusions he had formed about life and how to live it. Whenever he had the opportunity, he passed his wisdom along to his family and friends. Along with providing food, clothing, and shelter to his family, he felt it was important to give his children the benefit of his wisdom to help them to navigate the world around them so that they might live joy-filled lives. While the sayings in Italian Wisdom or the World According to John seem to be simple and amusing on the surface, with reflection, they reveal a deeper meaning. In this book of essays, author Mary Ann Donovan, explores the more complicated ideas expressed in the seemingly simple and sometimes strangely expressed sayings her father, John Calderone passed down to his family.