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A Walk Through the Customs of the Past: Mourning in Southern Italy's Calabria

In the past, mourning was not private—it belonged to the whole community. Even distant relatives were grieved with solemn care, and every funeral followed ancient, unwritten rules.

Women gathered close to one another, sharing comfort and sorrow, while men withdrew to another room or a nearby house, speaking quietly, remembering the virtues of the one who had passed.

The women remained beside the body. Their prayers rose and fell with cries so fierce they spilled into the streets. Some si pistavanu, others si pilavanu—slapping their faces, scratching their skin, pulling their hair, turning grief into a visible wound. In older times, families who could afford it called women whose role was to weep for the dead: the giangiulini, renowned especially in Pizzo Calabro, where they were known to travel far to lend their voices to mourning.

Food arrived as comfort: u ricunsulu, offered during the wake or in the days that followed. Doorways were marked with black ribbons; mirrors and furniture were covered, as if the house itself were grieving. Men wore black bands on their arms, and women, veiled in dark cloth even over their hair, often carried mourning for a lifetime—because in those days, death was never far away.

Grief moved in measured time: u tìarzu on the third day, u sìattimu after a week, u trenta after a month, and finally all’annu, one year later—each step a return to memory, each prayer a way of keeping the dead among the living.

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With the demolition of the Guthrie Theater Minneapolis in 2006 not only lost a landmark building but also a key work of the architect Ralph Rapson (1914-2008), for three decades also the head of the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture. A graduate of Cranbrook Academy Rapson not only was a convinced modernist but also a gifted teacher who before settling in Minnesota in 1954 taught at the New Bauhaus School in Chicago and the MIT. Beyond his teaching Rapson of course also was a practicing architect and designer, a dual talent that on the one hand got him selected as one of the architects for the Case Study House program (his design sadly never was built) but also motivated Knoll to hire him as designer. With this said and against the background of a large oeuvre it is surprising that the present volume still is the one substantial publication on Rapson’s work: „Ralph Rapson - Sixty Years of Modern Design“ by Rip Rapson, Jane King Hession and Bruce N. Wright was published by Afton Historical Society in 1999 and offers a comprehensive overview of the architect’s life and career. Lavishly illustrated the book follows Rapson’s development along its major steps that include his selection as architect of the US embassies in Copenhagen and Stockholm, the imposingly brutalist Cedar Square West housing complex in Minneapolis or the Pillsbury House, one of many impressive residences he designed during his long career. What the book also highlights is the stunning quality of Rapson’s drawings that more often than not feature potential occupant relaxing or carrying out their daily tasks. As the authors explain this feature also hints at Rapson’s conviction that architecture forms and supports life. Particularly charming also are the anecdotes about Rapson the teacher who somewhat roguishly encouraged his students to all kinds of shenanigans.

In conclusion the present monograph is a truly wonderful and highly readable book that is recommended to anyone interested in learning more about an American architect who unjustly isn’t very well-known outside of the US.