The (Not So) Funny Reason Why A Village In Italy Is Called California
A story of covered wagons and inventive conmen
Casale California is not a very scenic spot. It’s a one-horse town on a lightly travelled road on the border between the cities of Modena and Bologna, in the industrial Po Valley. There’s nothing much to see, even less to do. You can eat at a nice BBQ joint, though — the only faint connection to anything American.
Up until the 50s, the place was simply called California, just like the Golden State, and the reason why is half history, half legend.
California Dreamin’
There was a time, in Italy, when the word America evoked images of a mythical place where adventure and easy money went hand in hand — a promised land, the country of milk and honey. Popular novels described rugged-looking pioneers finding gold in every river, and cowboys driving an immense flock of cattle across sunburned fields; newspapers reported fancy tales of emigrants leaving Italy dirt-poor and coming back richer than Rockefeller.
