Journey to the South - A Calabrian Homecoming

All Annie Hawes knows of distant Calabria, way down in the toe of the boot of Italy and a thousand miles to the south of her hillside home in Liguria, is that it's a wild, unruly place, poverty-stricken and Mafia-ridden. Or so her neighbours in the village of Diano San Pietro would have her believe. But on the other hand, ever since she got together with Ciccio de Gilio, his Calabrian family have spoken of their homeland as an earthly paradise, of wild nights dancing the tarantella, of almond milk sold fresh from roadside stalls, of honey cakes and amaro made from wild liquorice roots... Now, at last, Annie and Ciccio are travelling down to see the ancestral home and extended family for themselves, along with a bunch of vocal and lively de Gilios who don't want to miss out on the fan. Will everything Annie has learnt in her years among the Ligurians stand her in good stead among the Calabresi ? Or is she in for another steep learning curve in the intricacies of Italian rural life ?