Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Italian visitor, 16, learns of Prescott

For the past three weeks, Chiara Giordano, 16, from Venice, Italy, has been learning about Prescott and America.

Giordano has been staying with Margaret Ivy, locally, but also had a host family in Fayetteville.

Her visit to the U.S. has been a busy one, as she has visited Missouri, Virginia and made a trip to Washington, D.C.

She enjoyed her trip to Washington, because she likes big cities. Her hometown, Mestre, near Venice, has a population of 200,000.

While here, Giordano went to church with the Ivy's and met some of the local young people.

There was also a trip to Branson thrown in, but Giordano missed the 25th Annual Hope Watermelon Festival, as she was out of town at the time.

She said Prescott is a nice town, but too small, as she's used to living in a big city. One of the things she found most surprising was the abundance of houses.

In Mestre, there are few houses, as the majority of the people live in apartments. Houses, she said, are expensive.

Giordano, when home, enjoys going out with her friends, listening to music, participating in sports and shopping. The same types of things young people around the world like doing.

She also likes visiting new places, learning other languages and studying the traditions of other counties.

Giordano is the youngest of three children. She has an older sister, Giovanna, 21, and brother, Gaetano, 26. Her mother, Silviana, and father, Giovanni, are both teachers.

The parents were from southern Italy, Naples, but moved north where they are now.

During the winter in Mestre, Giordano and her friends hang out, studying, going to the pizzeria, or heading to the mountains and skiing.

Where Venice is a tourist town, Mestre is an industrial complex, with several industries powering the economy.

Still, Giordano likes to make the short trip to Venice to visit the museums, famous buildings and historic sites.

Like many Italians, Giordano is Catholic, and attending church locally was different to what she's used to. But, she said, she did meet several other young people there and enjoyed it.

Along with the Catholic church, in Mestre, she said, there are several mosques, because of the number of Muslims in the region.

"I've enjoyed my stay here," Giordano said. "My host family has given me a lot of attention and has been very kind."

One area she's had a few problems with has been eating. In Italy, she said, they have pasta dishes daily for lunch, also eating meat, fish and vegetables, along with pizza. She also enjoys eating lasagna, salad and Italian coffee.

Giordano wasn't fond of American coffee, saying it was too weak. This is because she's used to a stronger blend, more along the lines of espresso, where the coffee is thick and rich, served in small cups.

While here, though, she did develop a liking for Swiss steak and corn.

The 16-year-old has two years to go in high school and does plan on entering the university after graduation. However, like many her age, the area of study remains a bit hazy. Giordano said she's leaning toward language or literature, but doesn't plan on getting into the realm of science and math.

Giordano was able to visit as part of the Lion's Club cultural exchange program.