Growing Up Italian and Catholic: Family, Food, and Friendship

Introduction: Heritage, Identity, and Pride

I have always been proud of my family heritage. Growing up Catholic is not always easy, and growing up Italian carries its own set of challenges on top of that. However, the love and camaraderie I experienced as a child will always remain with me as I get older. For an Italian, family takes priority over all other things, and there is a strong sense of respect for parents and elders. This also entails frankness, openness, and honesty, which can lead to lost tempers or heated arguments at the dinner table. After all, Italians are well known for their emotional natures.

I also realized, growing up, that our family's gatherings always centered on a great deal of food; food served an ultimately social function in our household, and it was almost always fresh and delicious. Another pleasant dimension of being Roman Catholic and Italian is that I befriended many people I might not have known otherwise. Because of family and church connections, I made friends with many kids who did not even attend the same school as I did. These things may seem trivial, but they are an integral part of my identity. Being Italian means several things to me, but it mostly comes down to family, friendships, and food.

Family Loyalty and Emotional Honesty

I learned from my parents early on that family takes precedence over all other things. Not only did my parents tell me this in words, but they also demonstrated it through their actions. If one of my uncles, aunts, cousins, or grandparents needed anything, my father or mother would deliver. Family members constantly went out of their way to help us; for instance, if anyone needed babysitting, a family member usually stepped up to do the job.

I also noticed that Italians tend to be quite honest with one another and will not hesitate to point out each other's failings or faults. My parents did not necessarily get along with all of their family members; I remember my mom did not see eye-to-eye with all of her sisters, and my dad and my mother's mother often disagreed. However, underlying all those personal differences was a deep love and respect. No matter how many times my parents argued or fought with their own parents or siblings, they always made up. Fights were heated but usually short-lived. I did witness grudges being held on occasion, but that only reminded me that so much is expected of family members that people sometimes feel hurt over relatively minor things.

This attitude toward family taught me a great deal about forgiveness and will help me approach my own children in the future. The Italian view of the family is often depicted in films and on television as both volatile and tightly knit, and I can more or less relate to those images.

Conclusion: Carrying Italian Values Forward

For Italians, food, family, and friendship go hand in hand. I feel honored and lucky to have been born into a Roman Catholic Italian family, and I am quite proud of my heritage. My pride partly arises from the positive attitude my parents instilled in me toward my background, but much of it evolved as I came to appreciate what it truly means to be Italian. Knowing how important family ties are will help me be a better parent in the future; whether or not I marry another Italian or even another Catholic, I will definitely teach my children many of the same values I learned as a child.