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Della Medicina
The Tradition of Italian-American Folk Healing
By Lisa Fazio
Foreword by MaryBeth Bonfiglio
Published by Healing Arts Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
• Details the healing techniques and folk wisdom the author learned from her Italian grandparents and from healers in Southern Italy, including plant preparation methods, medicines, rituals, recipes, kitchen magic, and protective magic
• Provides a materia medica of plants important in this tradition, sharing each plant’s history, mythology, and both practical and magical uses
• Reveals how working with traditional plant medicines can help us connect to and revitalize our own ancestral traditions for deep inner healing
Building upon the in-depth folk wisdom she learned from her immigrant grandparents as well as from local healers in Southern Italy, second-generation Italian-American and experienced herbalist Lisa Fazio shares herbal traditions and practices from the Italian diaspora and reveals how working with traditional plant medicines can help us connect to ancestral traditions for deep inner healing.
She explains how the herbal healing practices of her Italian ancestors were simply a part of everyday life, what they called Benedicaria, which literally means “the Blessing Way” but is more often translated as “the things we do.” Examining how plants are not only food and medicine but a vital yet invisible part of traditional communities, she details the techniques of Benedicaria, folk Catholicism, and the animistic traditions of her ancestors, including plant dialects, preparation methods, rituals, and recipes, as well as provides a materia medica. Discussing the relationship between Italian folk medicine and Italian witchcraft, she explores kitchen magic and protective magic, including practices for warding off the adverse effects of the evil eye.
Sharing valuable and nearly forgotten teachings from the Southern Italian herbal tradition, the author also shows how her journey to reconnect with her family’s healing practices offers guidance for anyone seeking to reconnect with their ancestors.
• Provides a materia medica of plants important in this tradition, sharing each plant’s history, mythology, and both practical and magical uses
• Reveals how working with traditional plant medicines can help us connect to and revitalize our own ancestral traditions for deep inner healing
Building upon the in-depth folk wisdom she learned from her immigrant grandparents as well as from local healers in Southern Italy, second-generation Italian-American and experienced herbalist Lisa Fazio shares herbal traditions and practices from the Italian diaspora and reveals how working with traditional plant medicines can help us connect to ancestral traditions for deep inner healing.
She explains how the herbal healing practices of her Italian ancestors were simply a part of everyday life, what they called Benedicaria, which literally means “the Blessing Way” but is more often translated as “the things we do.” Examining how plants are not only food and medicine but a vital yet invisible part of traditional communities, she details the techniques of Benedicaria, folk Catholicism, and the animistic traditions of her ancestors, including plant dialects, preparation methods, rituals, and recipes, as well as provides a materia medica. Discussing the relationship between Italian folk medicine and Italian witchcraft, she explores kitchen magic and protective magic, including practices for warding off the adverse effects of the evil eye.
Sharing valuable and nearly forgotten teachings from the Southern Italian herbal tradition, the author also shows how her journey to reconnect with her family’s healing practices offers guidance for anyone seeking to reconnect with their ancestors.
Product Details
- Publisher: Healing Arts Press (October 8, 2024)
- Length: 448 pages
- ISBN13: 9781644117545
Raves and Reviews
“My immense enthusiasm for the release of Lisa Fazio’s Della Medicina is twofold. It is the perfect choice as a required text for my university course on Italian folk medicine and magic as it will simultaneously educate and enchant my students. Secondly, as the great-granddaughter of an Italian healer, I have long lived with many of the traditions Fazio explores. Lisa Fazio’s expertise as an herbalist and her meticulous research have greatly expanded my own understanding of the remedies passed down through the generations in my family. This book is a must-read for Italian Americans as well as readers from any cultural diaspora seeking to deepen their knowledge of folk healing practices.”
– Gina M. Miele, Ph.D., professor specializing in Italian folktales, folklore, and traditions at Montc
“I have been longing for this magical book my whole life. Lisa Fazio is one of our generation’s greatest teachers of Southern Italian folk medicine. Della Medicina is for everyone drawn to plants and their healing powers and anyone in search of ancestral connection. For those of us from Italy’s many diasporas, this is a pathway home, an invitation to remember.”
– Jennifer Guglielmo, author of Living the Revolution: Italian Women’s Resistance and Radicalism
“This book warms my Southern Italian soul! I love it! What a fascinating apothecary of history, mystical folk knowledge, tools, and inspiration for anyone wanting to draw on one of the most amazing herbalism traditions on the planet to nourish their lives and heal our world. Brava, Lisa Fazio, for honoring the ancestors in a way that shows the universality of their expansive wisdom.”
– Marguerite Mary Rigoglioso, Ph.D., author of The Secret Life of Mother Mary and The Mystery Traditio
“This book dives deeply into how we of the Italian diaspora can reclaim our roots and restore our connection to the earth, which is our true nature. Lisa Fazio weaves the daily with the divine by offering rituals, ceremonies, and healing practices with reverence and wisdom.”
– Lisa Masé, nutritionist and author of The Culinary Pharmacy
“Della Medicina takes us into the deep ancestral energy of magical medicines that have long pervaded the Mediterranean regions, where folk medicine, divination, holy wells, sacred sites, and ancient rituals combined with potent healing plants to bring sweet relief and healing to the peoples of that region. These teachings are also connected to the early burgeoning practices of modern medicine and how our connection to the energetics of plants can still be used to bring about true health and healing.”
– Brigitte Mars, author of Natural Remedies for Mental and Emotional Health and Addiction-Free Natural
“Lisa Fazio’s Della Medicina is a deep exploration of ancestral wisdom through the lens of Italian folk medicine. Drawing from her rich heritage and herbal knowledge, she beautifully illustrates how plants can serve as sacred portals to our ancestral roots. Her holistic approach reminds us that folk medicine is for everyone, transcending cultural, political, and economic boundaries while fostering deep connections with both human and nonhuman communities. This book is a treasure for anyone who loves plants and seeks harmony with the world around them. Lisa’s insights and the accessible plants featured make this a practical and profound guide to inner healing through traditional plant medicine.”
– Jenn Campus, anthropologist, animist, and author of A Guide to Celebrating the 12 Days of Yule
“Lisa Fazio’s book represents the best kind of ancestor work—connection with our beloved ancient kin, the plants; connection through cultural frameworks that are instructions from the lands of our ancestors; and connection that does not try to simplify what is deeply complex.”
– Susan Raffo, author of Liberated to the Bone
“Lisa Fazio’s Della Medicina not only gives readers access to specific spells, prayers, and cures, but painstakingly reconstructs the traditional ecological knowledge and worldview behind Italian vernacular healing practices. Written accessibly for a popular audience, it nonetheless reflects careful scholarship and a thorough understanding of larger forces behind this complex system of knowledge.”
– Sabina Magliocco, Ph.D., professor of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Resources and Downloads
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