If you have enjoyed my Ravello stories, you may be interested to know a bit more about where some of my ideas came from.
Ravello, of course, is a real town, and you can now find a photographic guide to my story locations on the Gallery page. Below, I offer some thoughts on other things that have influenced my writing.
Character names
The characters in my stories are not based on myself or any other real person. However, their names sometimes reference movies I have enjoyed, or have tangentially relevant meanings of their own. Here’s a guide, organised by family.
Famiglia Fortuna
Gianni Fortuna lived in London until his parents’ death in a car accident. His father Paul Fortuna married Francesca Bianchi. Paul, in turn, was descended from an Italian soldier named Giacomo Fortuna, who married an English woman named Mary Allen.
There’s an irony, or at least a duality, at work in the family name Fortuna, which is Italian for ‘luck’. At the beginning of The Summer of the Firefly, Gianni is hardly the world’s luckiest boy; but the tragedy that befalls him does, ultimately, bring him to the beautiful surrounds of Ravello and a new kind of acceptance.
Gianni (Ja-ni) is one of the two main Italian forms of ‘John’, reflecting his nature as an everyman sort of character.
Famiglia Bianchi
Vittorio Bianchi moved to Ravello in the 1950s, where he met and married Marina, who grew up in Ravello, in the very same house they eventually shared together. They had two daughters, Giulia and Francesca, both deceased. Their grandchildren are Anna Amato (later Rossi) and Gianni Fortuna.
Bianchi is a common Italian surname. ‘Bianco’ means ‘white’, which seemed to fit the characters’ age and religious associations.
Famiglia Amato
Sergio Amato married Giulia Bianchi, and they had one daughter, Anna. Sergio and Anna live together in San Martino, at least until Anna’s marriage to Pietro Rossi.
Amato literally means ‘loved’. I don’t know whether it’s in use as a surname in Italy, but it seemed a good fit for both characters.
Sergio (Ser-jo), as a name, may possibly suggest the character is from northern Italy originally. It is similar to the French name ‘Serge’. I encountered a Sergio in the movie Io non ho Paura (I’m not Scared), although that particular Sergio was a villain.
Famiglia Rossi
Andrea Rossi, despite his ill health, is the patriarch of the branch of the large Rossi family that we get to know best in my stories. His wife Marta is the true driving force behind the family, which comprises eldest son Pietro, middle son Angelo and youngest daughter Claudia. Named cousins we have met from other branches of the family include Viola, who mans the gates of the Villa Cimbrone gardens (although referred to as ‘Viola Rossi’, she is in fact married to kitchen worker and gardener Giovanni); Rosa, who works at the ceramics workshop; and her younger brother Fabrizio, a friend of Pietro.
Rossi is a common Italian surname. The Rossis are also a passionate bunch; since ‘Rosso’ means ‘red’, the name seemed eminently suitable.
Angelo literally means ‘angel’, which seems to suit the character as, essentially, a force for good and the ultimate saviour of Gianni; but, really, I just chose the name because I liked it and it seemed right for him.
Andrea is one of those names that you might think ought to belong to a girl, but it is in fact the Italian form of ‘Andrew’.
Famiglia Friuli
Salvatore Friuli and his wife Gioia ran their grocery shop in Via Roma together until Gioia’s untimely death. They have one son, Toto.
The family name Friuli references Friuli Venezia Giulia, the most north-eastern region of Italy (despite the name, the city of Venice is not actually within the region, whose capital city is Trieste). ‘Friuli’ is a name I picked very casually for a passing mention in The Summer of the Firefly, at which point it became canon and couldn’t be changed. I would probably not have picked the name if I had known I was creating a future main character, as it has no particular significance to the story and has a slightly awkward sound to it.
There is, however, an interesting connection between the names Salvatore and Toto. The wonderful film Cinema Paradiso tells the story of a man who loved movies as a child and grows up to become a celebrated director in adulthood. As a boy, he is known as ‘Toto’, although the character’s proper name is ‘Salvatore’; my Toto could therefore be named after his father, although this is not confirmed in the text.
Goia is Italian for ‘joy’, which only served to underscore the tragic impact of her loss.
Famiglia Romano
Davide Romano and his wife Chiara live near San Cosma. Chiara often lives like a single parent, as Davide travels for work. They have one son, Michele.
Romano is another common Italian surname. Obviously it suggests a connection to Rome some time in the family’s history.
I named Michele (Mi-ke-le) as another nod to the compelling movie Io non ho Paura (I’m not Scared), set in rural Italy, in which a plucky young boy called Michele faces his fears to befriend another child (oddly enough, named ‘Filippo’) who is being held captive in a hole in the ground.
The pets (famiglia Fortuna-Rossi)
The intention was that Gianni and Angelo had named their dog after old Alfredo, an elderly gardener Angelo used to know when he was a boy. In turn, I originally named old Alfredo after the other main character in Cinema Paradiso, a cinema projectionist who befriends young Toto and becomes his mentor.
The cat was named after Ennio Morricone, a noted film composer. His work included the wonderful, nostalgic soundtrack to Cinema Paradiso.
Famiglia Ferrero
Paolo and Patrizia Ferrero moved from their home city of Milan to Ravello in search of a better work life and a new beginning for their sensitive son Daniele.
Ferrero is another common Italian name with no particular significance to the characters in question. I would speculate that it may have some connection to the word ‘ferro’, meaning iron, which could make it equivalent to ‘Smith’, but I have done no research to back this up. The actual Italian word for blacksmith is ‘fabbro’.
Daniele (Dan-ye-le) is obviously the Italian form of ‘Daniel’, a name I often imagined I might have given to my own son, had I been in a position to produce one.
Famiglia Agnello
Domenico Agnello married Elena before allegedly leaving her for a younger woman. He is still at large somewhere, but has never been seen in my stories. They have one son, Giacomo.
Agnello is Italian for ‘lamb’. It’s a name that seemed to fit the meek, downtrodden Elena, and raises questions about her son in his involvement with the shady Neri family – willing participant, or lamb to the slaughter?
Giacomo (Ja-co-mo) is the Italian form of ‘James’.
Famiglia Fardello
Lorenzo and Gemma Fardello both work hard for poor pay. They have little time or love to spare for their son Marco.
Fardello is Italian for ‘burden’. It was a very literal choice, describing the heavy burden that the family, and particularly Marco, carry in life.
Famiglia Roccia
Roberto and Monica Roccia live in San Martino with their daughter Emilia. Roberto has a sister, Agnese, married to a man from Rome; they have a daughter, Laura Amoroso.
Roccia is Italian for ‘rock’. Despite her ambitious parents, the name was chosen for the staunch friendship Emilia shows to Daniele, Marco and Giacomo at various points during their stories together.
It should come as no surprise that Amoroso means ‘amorous’ in Italian. It’s also a reference to the Italian movie Malena, from the director of Cinema Paradiso, which follows a young boy called Renato Amoroso with a doomed crush on the most beautiful woman in town.
Famiglia Verdi
Mario and Luisa Verdi live in Monte with their adopted son Luca.
No great mystery here. Verdi is another authentic surname. ‘Verde’ is Italian for green – like Luca’s eyes!
Famiglia Neri
Santino Neri is the head of a criminal family in Naples. His wife Assunta lives in a palatial villa in Ravello with their vain, resentful son Filippo. Santino has a younger brother called Carlo, who has two sons including Cosmo. Santino excluded his incompetent and jealous cousin Ettore from the family business, causing him to spitefully set up his own attempt at a protection racket in Ravello.
Neri is another authentic Italian surname. ‘Nero’ is Italian for ‘black’.
Santino is named after Don Vito Corleone’s violent and uncontrollable son in The Godfather.
Filippo Neri was an historical priest of note, venerated as a a saint following his death. The coincidence with my character’s name is ironically intended.
Famiglia Farzan
Reza Farzan was born in England to parents Ramin Farzan and his wife Helen. Later on, Reza meets and marries Tiziana, and they befriend Sami, a refugee boy from north Africa who is being fostered in Ravello.
In creating Sami and later Reza I researched middle eastern names and branches of Islam. Ramin Farzan is a Persian name, suggesting that Ramin may hail from Iran originally. Ramin is a Sunni Muslim, a minority in Iran, but it means that the faith Reza grew up with aligns with the branch of Islam in which Sami was most likely brought up before he fled his homeland with his aunt and uncle.
Reza affectionately calls his wife ‘Tiz’. If you understand anything about Italian pronunciation, you’ll realise why she objects to it. It sounds like an English slang word for a part of the female anatomy.
Other characters
Enzo Palmeri ought to get a mention. I took his surname twofold from an Italian novel I read and from someone I used to know online.
The corrupt police chief Benito Leggero‘s name is a double indictment of his character. ‘Benito’ references Mussolini, while ‘Leggero’ is Italian for ‘light’ or ‘lightweight’.
By contrast, his successor Valentina Forza‘s surname is the Italian word for ‘force’.
Side notes
A side note: In Together We Can Fly, Toto reads La Gloire de Mon Père, the French writer and film-maker Marcel Pagnol’s nostalgic memoir of a memorable summer spent in the hills of Provence as a child. The book was adapted into a lovely film in the 1990s, in which cicadas feature prominently in the soundtrack.
James Carnarvon 