From Sardinia to America. With one way but no return. And also without too many regrets.
When Natalino Scalas arrived in California it was November 1969. He didn't speak a word of English: «Not even “hi”, hello. I had attended school up to the fifth grade in Assemini and was often absent because my father needed help in the garden. I missed so many lessons. This is why not even my Italian is perfect», he says today who is almost 78 years old.
And in Lakewood, California, he built his family: wife, two children and six grandchildren. Emigration was not a reasoned choice, more than anything else the alternative to a life without infamy and without praise. The garden of his American home "looks like a living room, there isn't a leaf out of place", after all "TV bores me, so I also dedicate myself to volunteering".
What did he do before leaving?
«The desperate one ( laughs ). My father understood that I no longer wanted to study and he told me "it's better that you learn a trade", so I first went to be an apprentice in a barber shop, then I opened my own».
She liked?
“It was a disaster, especially since I hadn't decided it. At 6 in the morning the old men would arrive, sit on the steps and wait for me. They came to shave once a week: a shave cost 150 lire, a haircut 350. I spent more time with the elderly than with the young – including shampoos and various products that were fashionable at the time -, so I really earned little. I couldn't stand it."
Has he closed up shop?
«One of my brothers was already in the US: "Come here, the money is on the ground", he was already in Lakewood, in Los Angeles County. And in the end I achieved it».
How was the impact with life in stars and stripes?
"I'm just saying that after 5 months I had already bought a ticket to return to Sardinia".
Adventure over?
«Twenty days before that date I met a Sicilian family. And there was also a girl, Carmelina. For those three weeks we went out together – always accompanied and never alone -, a cinema, a walk. They suffered a lot from being away from Italy, just imagine that the one who later became my mother-in-law cried for two or three years. America can be bad."
And wasn't Carmelina a reason to stay?
«Not at that moment, I packed my bags and returned to Assemini. I worked hard to reopen the barbershop, and I also confided in my mother: I always thought about that girl, yet I knew her very little. My mom advised me to go back to California. "But I don't think Carmelina is there waiting for me". And mom: “Toca, torra a andai”».
How did it end?
«That on December 18 we celebrated 52 years of marriage».
The job?
«Occasional things, I was also the driver of a billionaire who was so stingy but so stingy…».
What do you remember?
«He was someone who loved to gamble, many times I took him to Las Vegas. He didn't sleep at night to clip discount coupons. One day he makes me stop in front of a shopping center, enters the store and comes out with a hot dog and 25 cents. He goes in and out again with a wig and 25 cents. Then he gives me a coupon: "You go". I get back to my car with a hot dog and 25 cents. "Fine, eat the sandwich and give me the 25 cents." I could not believe it. Yet he did not lack money: his father had left him 240 apartments and every morning we went to the bank to deposit bags of coins, those recovered in the condominium laundries».
Had he learned English in the meantime?
“I had enrolled in night school. English for Mexicans. It wasn't there for Italians. On the first day a teacher asked me: “Si hablo español me entiendes?”. I thought: “But do you speak Sardinian?”. I understood it very well. This was a big plus."
Because she hasn't forgotten her language even today...
«When I'm home alone and Carmelina is at work, which means five days out of seven, I call all the relatives and friends in Sardinia, in turn. And I want to use only Sardinian. That's why I've never lost it, even if it's not like it used to be. While when I speak English, here in California, the Italian accent is heard a lot, you don't know how many times they tell me: “What?”, because they don't understand me».
In these decades of emigration, have you often returned to Assemini?
“A total of twenty times. But my wife doesn't want to go there anymore.'
Why not?
«She says I've never let her visit the beauties of the island: beaches, archeology, nature, landscapes. “You take me there and I have to kiss the same people a hundred times”, he's a bit right. But you know how it goes: when you go back to town there are relatives, friends, and they kidnap you, obviously in a good way. Lunches, dinners, you don't have time to go elsewhere, they wrap you with all their attention. In Sicily we managed to shoot much more. On the other hand, the reception in both regions has always been made of great affection».
You will miss something about Sardinia…
«The past no longer exists, but I'm still clinging to those memories, to certain moments that sometimes prevent me from living my wonderful present. I like to travel, I often go to Mexico to fish. For next year we have planned a cruise on the Danube with my brothers-in-law. They have already warned me from Sardinia: “Are you in Europe and aren't you coming to us?”».
Are today's young people right to leave the island?
«Yes, there's one thing I want to say: I've known many who arrive in America thinking of making a career without apprenticeship. For example, in the restaurant business, they don't want to start out as a dishwasher. But you have to start at the bottom to move forward. Then there were also those who opened their own restaurant and gave themselves over to the good life, holidays, etc., instead of working hard. And leaving the management to the manager, who made his money disappear. Or even those who marry Asians who leave them on time».
What do you mean?
«We Sardinians are stubborn and the Americans can't stand us. Asian women do, and many times it is they who want marriage in order to obtain citizenship. Eventually they get tired too."
What about Sardinian women in America?
"They have more patience."
Do you speak Italian with your wife?
«Yes, even with my daughter Cristina. With Giovanni almost only in English, but both know all the bad words in Sardinian, a classic in short ».
Something from your tradition that you cook at home?
“The suckling pig is impossible to find here. The one offered for sale must weigh at least 300 kilos. Farmers have no interest in placing the small ones, they don't earn anything. Or they offer unapproachable prices. I buy the kid, but it's a completely different thing from the Sardinian one. On the other hand, Carmelina knows how to make panades, my mother taught her. For the rest we find Sardinian wine and bottarga at the supermarket».
In short, will he not return to live in his Assemini?
«But no, now my life is here. There was carelessness there, with the years of youth, and this will never be erased. I keep calling friends, relatives, we chat in Sardinian. This is enough for me to keep that invisible thread with my land».