"Putting Down Strays"
Laura Busini – Birch
![](3D"strays_files/image002.gif")
Publish=
ed by
"Youth Support"
=
13 Crescent Road
=
=
;
First E=
dition 1994
Copyrig=
ht LB Birch
Acknowl=
edgements
My thanks and appreciation go to a=
ll my
friends and members of my fa=
mily,
especially my mother, who have helped to fill in some of the episodes of p=
re
war years.
Also my thanks to the members of t=
he
Resistance
who provided me with many details.=
Photogr=
aphs
courtesy of - The War Museum -
=
&n=
bsp; &nbs=
p; -
Angelo Mezzanotte - Fabriano
![](3D"file:///E:\Web%20Folders\Booksmembers\images\laura.gif")
Laura B=
irch was
born and brought up in Mussolini's
She met=
her
husband, a Major in the Royal Artillery, during the fighting in her home t=
own,
when the British Eight Army, pushing its way through
Having =
taught
herself English, she spent many years teaching in a primary school. She ha=
s two
daughters and lives in
=
&n=
bsp; &nbs=
p; =
By the same author:
=
"Traditional Italian Food&qu=
ot;
=
Published
by
To the gallant young men who fought for my
country, so that our l=
ives
would be worth living.
"They grow not =
old, as
we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn=
. At
the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."=
;
PHOTOGRAPH
ALLIED TROOPSIN MOUNTAINS
NA 18312
=
=
&n=
bsp; &nbs=
p; =
&n=
bsp;
CONTENTS
Introdu=
ction.
Chapter=
1. July 1944. The priest's dis=
covery.
=
Chapter=
2. Rome, June 1970, early morning
Chapter=
3. 1895, a village at the foot of the
Central Appennines.
Chapter=
4. Central City, Colorado, U.S.A.
Chapter=
5. 1911, Giovanna.
Chapter=
6. The Italian village of Mont=
ello
Chapter=
7. Italy, 1920-1927.
Chapter=
8. Life in the schoolhouse.
Chapter=
9. Travelling with Erroll.
Chapter=
10. Fascism.
Chapter=
11. 1939-1943.
Chapter=
12. In the shadow of "The Witch&=
quot;.
Chapter=
13. Katia.
Chapter=
14. "Auf wiedersen freunden"=
;.
Chapter= 15. Putting down "strays".<= o:p>
Chapter=
16. Fischietto, the "whistler".
Conclus=
ion.
=
INTRODUCTION
This is=
not purely
a work of fiction. It is, as=
far as
possible, a truthful account of an Italian family from the year 1890, lead=
ing
to a climax in the tragedies of the second world war.
The des=
cription of
life in Italian villages during the pre-war and war years is drawn from
personal experiences of the author and interviews with many participants.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The plight of immigrants to U.S.A=
. and
Argentina are drawn from true stories.
Some of=
the events
described may seem melodramatic, such as Father Vincenzo's discovery in the
mulberry grove. They are absolutely accurate. It should be remembered that this=
was a
time of great cruelty, turmo=
il and
destruction, culminating in =
the
violent end of Mussolini and his mistress, shot, then hung by their feet on
lamp posts in Piazza Loreto, in Milan.
The the=
me of the
book is the life of Joe, American-Italian, the author's Godfather, (assistant to the late Mr.E.Parso=
ns,
expert on Renaissance Art and buyer for the Metropolitan Museum of New Yor=
k) and his wife Giovanna, one time emigrant=
to
Argentina.
The acc=
ount of the
career and trial of Katia is based on official documents.
CHAPTER =
1.
&nb=
sp;
The priest's discovery
It was =
July 20th
1944, early evening.
Don Vin=
cenzo was
briskly walking from his home towards a&n=
bsp;
house just outside the village, where one of his parishioners lay ill. He was brin=
ging
the last sacrament, the "estrema unzione", as Antonio Fini was not expected to =
last to
the next day. He kept to the middle of the road, so that he could be seen,
wearing his black robe,
as the village was in "no man's land" and anyone could ha=
ve
been easily mistaken for a partisan or a "rebel", depending from which side you loo=
ked at
it. He held in his hands, tightly against his chest, the sacred chalice , =
the
ampoules, wrapped in the mau=
ve
stole which he would wear at Antonio's bedside. The Germans were on
retreat, but still their pre=
sence
was felt very much around the countryside,
while the Allied troops had not quite got there. The roar of war was
present with the heavy artil=
lery
firing at intervals,
with aeroplanes discharging their bombs incessantly, while the ground trembled a=
s for a
continuous earthquake.
Don Vin=
cenzo was
in a hurry, as he knew he sh=
ould
get back before sunset, when=
the
curfew came into force, so he
decided to take a short cut through
a grove of mulberry trees,
to get to the isolated farmhouse.
The Ger=
mans had
been very active in their "rastrellamenti" the raking of the
countryside, taking with the=
m in
their retreat as many civilians as possible, mainly men young and not so young=
. Most
of the male population had escaped to the mountains, while women, children and the very=
old
stayed indoors, afraid even to look out, hoping that staying out of =
sight
would improve their chances of escaping the raids of the SS.
Don Vin=
cenzo did
not meet anybody in his erra=
nd of
mercy , but
somehow=
, he was
feeling uncomfortable, as if someone was following him or looking at him a=
ll
the time.
"I=
t must be
my imagination" he said=
to
himself, taking courage by r=
eciting
an "Ave Maria". He=
always
looked down when praying , it made him feel nearer to God. He was approach=
ing a
grove of beautiful mulberry trees, their glorious heads of shiny, bright green leaves, laden with bunches of fruit which=
would
ripen in about a month's time. He
always loved to admire the beautiful
trees, so he lifted his eyes when a pungent, unmistakable odour reached his no=
strils.
Startle=
d, he stopped. He saw, hanging from =
two of
the trees, what looked like two human bodies. He went nearer and realised that they were the corps=
es of
two young men, their faces
unrecognisable by the violent death they had suffered. They were dangling =
from
two thick branches. There was not a rope around their necks, but a butcher's meat hook pierced
through their throats.
Numbed =
by the
horror of what his eyes were seeing,
Don Vincenzo quickly made the sign of the cross, murmuring a prayer.
Who wer=
e they? How
long had they been there? There was nothing he could do, not even arrange =
to
bury them. He knew that from somewhere spying eyes would soon denounce him=
. He
knew that if he touched those bodies,&nbs=
p;
left there as warning to others of the power of the S.S. his own co=
rpse
could be the next one hanging from some tree..........
CHAPTER 2
Rome, June
1971 early morning
Rome wa=
s waking
up, the air was fresh, still=
and
filled with the scent of blossoms from the courtyards, a blend of orange, gardenia and jasmine, mixed with =
the
pungent odour from the scorched earth, as the council's spraying v=
an had
just finished its tour, quenching the pavements from the heat of the previ=
ous
day.
It was =
going to be another very hot day, of a =
more
than usually hot Summer, but at that time of the morning, before the rays =
of
the sun had reached the pavements, the air was pleasantly fresh and comfor=
tably
warm.
Over th=
e rooftops
of the tall buildings, the s=
wallows
were screeching, welcoming,<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> with their garrulous voice, another glorious day.
Marco o=
pened the
small door next to the great gate of the palace at No7 in Via Sistina, looked up to the sky and drew an
enormous gulp of that cool morning air. This was the time of the day he li=
ked
best, when tradesmen made th=
eir
deliveries, either by van, by bicycles,&n=
bsp;
on foot. Everybody was so energetic trying to get through as much w=
ork
as possible before the heat became too unbearable and weariness set in.
At the =
corner of
Via Sistina and Via del
Tritone, the newspaper kiosk=
opened
up its shutters, giving a colourful view of the illustrated periodicals th=
at
the vendor switched around making room for the new consignment due later
in the morning, while waiting for the delivery van
bringing the early daily papers. As soon as this arrived, he would make his first sale of t=
he
day, as Marco, as punctual as dawn, would walk over to collect the tw=
o items
his "padrone" regularly required: Il Messaggero di Roma and The New=
York
Times.
At the =
florist two
doors away masses of exotic blooms were arriving, bringing all the colours and perf=
ume one
could think of. The same van then proceeded to refill the stalls of the fl=
ower
sellers at the foot of the flight of steps of Trinita' dei Monti in Piazza=
di
Spagna.
Marco a=
lways had a
word, a smile and a joke for=
the
delivery boys, before starti=
ng on
his daily task of cleaning the courtyard of the palace in his care. The fl=
owers
he grew in that small garden and in beautiful antique roman urns were just=
as
magnificent as the ones from the flower market. He took great care in them=
. He
never missed watering his garden morning and evening.
The 'tu=
berose' were
just opening their buds releasing their heady fragrance, the hibiscus were in full bloom a=
nd the
"canne d'India" gave a splash of colour to the darkest corner of=
the
cloister, opposite the main =
gate.
Anturhyums were another species of his favourite flowers, with their unreal wax like trumpe=
ts.
"Y=
our fingers
must be really green"
Mr.Mason, his American employer used to say, smiling, as he admired them, because he knew that Marco consid=
ered
this English idiomatic phrase very funny indeed.
That mo=
rning Marco
was not feeling his usual cheerful self, he could not think why. Som=
ething
was bothering him. He said to himself:&nb=
sp;
"I am well and so is Maria, and all our family, so what's the
matter with me?"
He shru=
gged his
shoulders and went on working. Maria, his wife, was getting ready for their
departure, that same afterno=
on, to
go to spend two weeks at their daughter's home, in Civitavecchia, a small town on the Tyrrhenian
He shou=
ld feel happy, as he would see again his only da=
ughter
Clelia and his grandchild, f=
ive
years old Delia. His son in law worked as a steward on one of the boats on=
the
regular ferry to and from Sardinia. A brother of Maria usually came to sta=
y in
their flat in the basement in Via Sistina , to look after things during their
absence. At Christmas time the daughter and her family came to Rome to spe=
nd
the holiday, as on the ferry=
it was
a slack time.
He shou=
ld feel
excited, but maybe he did no=
t like
the idea of all the household going on the same day. He felt as if they we=
re
sailors abandoning ship, so
attached and loyal he was to his work and to his employer. The people livi=
ng in
the palace all went away for some months every year, but never in a span of a few hour=
s from
each other. Sometimes, while=
he was
attending to the flowers, he=
used
to sing some well known arias, from
the operas which he loved.
He rega=
rded
himself as a good tenor, aft=
er
Joe, Mr.Mason's assistant,
He thou=
ght the
weather would change that morning. In the distance it looked as if one of =
those
Summer storms, for which Rome is famous,&=
nbsp;
was gathering strength. The "goccioloni", huge rain drops=
, would drown everything in their w=
ake.
"T=
hat's why
my wound is so painful, it is
always the signal for a change in the weather" he thought. His wound being a sca=
r on
his right knee which he had since childhood when he had skidded into a gla=
ss
fronted cupboard.
He smil=
ed.
Tomorrow he would be playing with little Delia, nothing else would matter. He wou=
ld take
her for walks in the countryside and to a lonely spot on the beach which at
this time of the year was almost deserted. He indulged in teaching her all
about Nature, the sea, the plants and trees, the birds. He wanted her to g=
et a
good education, to get a wide general knowledge that would help her once s=
he
started school. He had missed all this in his early years and his own daug=
hter
had not been very lucky either in this respect. He had experienced hard times in =
those
early days of his married life and Maria had to resort to some domestic wo=
rk to
supplement their meagre income. Clelia had the minimum schooling permitted=
by
the law, which meant her edu=
cation
had stopped when she was thirteen. She was not very interested in learning=
, but
she was very good with her hands,
in an artistic way. She had found a job as a painter in a pottery. =
She
had given that up once married, when with
her hus=
band they
settled in Civitavecchia.
Marco d=
id not care
for this old port. He liked to watch the ships come and go with their carg=
oes
of cars and goods and in Summer, &nb=
sp;
people, lots of people, bodies, young and old, tired, perspiring bo=
dies.
At one time he had thought of having a trip to see just what Sardinia was =
like.
He had heard so much of those strange, different people, different from the
Italians on the mainland which, with contempt they called
"Continente", a
population of peasants, back=
ward
shepherds, wild in their fee=
lings
and their temperament.
The sig=
ht of the
waiting people on the quayside at holiday time had put Marco off that idea.
Apart from the bodies, there=
were
such long queues for cars as well as for passengers on foot, in the scorching heat often tempe=
rs were
short and the place became a
bedlam. It was no good even if you booked a passage. Italians have the kna=
ck of
jumping queues. Sardinia had now become such a fashionable place where
everybody wanted to go while there was not enough transport for them.
Italian=
s are not
daunted by such a terrible way of beginning and ending a holiday, as long as they can tell their
friends "I have been to
Sardinia"! "I have=
seen
the Costa Smeralda!"
Sardinians were now a wealthy crowd, the once scorned "Continente=
" had
become their playground .The shepherds that once lived alone most of the y=
ear
with their flocks in isolated huts on the wild mountains of their island w=
ere
now living in Tuscany, in The
Marche region, buying up derelict farms, enjoying their newly found wealth=
from
the sale of their barren land to
the tourist industry.
=
&n=
bsp; &nbs=
p;
As he w=
as alone
with his thoughts, the noise of an engine startled Marco and a shining bla=
ck
Mercedes arrived at the front door,
brought by the driver from the garage which was at the back of the =
building.
The driver did not have to make himself known, he was a familiar face, part of Mr. Mason's household.
A few m=
inutes
later a wheel chair was pushed out of the lift with an elderly gentleman,<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mr. Mason, escorted by a young la=
dy on
one side and on the other side, by a good looking man, blonde with a hint of grey hair, Joe Perotti, Mr. Mason's assistan=
t.
As Marc=
o saw the
small group coming towards the car, he felt a thump in his heart. He knew =
now
why he could not be cheerful today. What was bothering him was the thought=
of
seeing Mr.Mason leave in a wheelchair. He had always been the picture of
health, he walked so straight,
before his operation a few months earlier, when the illness had struck him. =
The
removal of a cancerous tumour had been successful, but nobody dared to make any supp=
osition
and to think further ahead , fearing for the worst.
Mr.Maso=
n had not
recovered as well and as quickly as it had been hoped. He found great
difficulty in walking, that'=
s why a
wheelchair had to be provided for him. Determined not to give in, he had
decided he would not miss his planned yearly stay by the sea, the sea he l=
oved
with all his heart, in this =
case
the Riviera of Amalfi, south=
of
Naples.
Joe had=
managed to
engage a nurse from the American hospital,
who would accompany and look after him. Everybody in the neighbourh=
ood
knew Mr.Mason and admired him: he was cheerful, kind, he had a word and a j=
oke for
all. The qualities of his character,
coupled with his generosity had made of him almost a legendary figu=
re.
Marco and the chauffeur in unison, welcomed the trio with a "Good
morning, Mr. Mason, good morning Mr. Perotti, good morning Miss Saville&q=
uot;.
They he=
lped Mr.
Mason into the back seat of =
the
capacious car, then the nurs=
e sat
next to him, while Marco pla=
ced the
folded wheelchair and the cases he had collected earlie=
r in
the Mercedes's boot. The old gentleman looked around the courtyard at all =
the
flowers.
"T=
hey are a
credit to you, Marco,<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> this year they are better t=
han
ever before", he
commented, smiling at Marco =
and
shaking his hand. "Give=
my
love to Maria and to Clelia and her family", he added.
Then he=
turned to
the other gentleman, took bo=
th his
hands in his, looking in his=
eyes,
he whispered "Good bye,=
Joe,
give my love to New York".
He quic=
kly turned
his face away, firmly gave t=
he
driver the order. "Let's go,
Ernesto".
He alwa=
ys spoke in
English to everybody in his household. Marco spoke the language well, havi=
ng
learned it from the American troops that occupied Rome at the end of the w=
ar.
He spoke well enough, but wi=
th a
very marked American twang. He had been one of the "shoe-shine boys&q=
uot;
of the time, when he had qui=
ckly
assimilated the language and this had contributed, later on, to earn him the possibility of la=
nding
well paid jobs with Americans in Rome, ending up as a gardener at =
the
American Embassy. Not that he did much talking while gardening, but from that position, Mr. Mason=
had
engaged him, with such a good
offer. Apart from his salary he was given living quarters, a flat in the basement in the pal=
azzo of
Via Sistina, in the heart of
ancient Rome. He often recalled with Maria the time when such a stroke of =
luck
had changed their life completely. They had almost forgotten the squalor of
their first home, two rooms =
of a
delapidated building in the poorest part of Trastevere.
He ador=
ed these
streets, the churches, the fountains, Rome was his life, and, had it not been for Mr. Mason,
His hom=
e as a
child had been a small village just outside the city, Settebagni. He remembered when he=
lived
there with his parents. His father had been called up as a soldier in the
Infantry and gone to war. He had never come back, reported missing in the early day=
s of
the conflict, on the Albanian
front. Then, one day, indelible in his memory, he recalled alarms, shouts,
running, running while bombs exploded around him and tall columns of black
smoke obscured the sun while the earth was trembling.
Next th=
ing he
knew, was when he only saw
strangers around him, his ho=
me gone
and with it his mother and his grandparents.
He was =
alone in
the world.
He was =
taken in by
some distant relatives, but =
later
he overheard them talking about an orphanage in a small village nearby,
He had heard that there were group=
s of
children, like himself alone in the world, working in Rome as shoe-shine b=
oys
for the Allied troops just arrived. He knew how to get to Rome, he had been
there with his mother more than once, to take goods to the Piazza Vittorio
vegetable market. So, eventually he joined a band of young ruffians, orphans like him, yes, but not all ideal companions.
They li=
ved on all
types of expedients, cleaning shoes,
selling on the black market, thieving and even procuring. They slept
rough anywhere, in the open, in parks, under benches, in churches when they
needed some shelter from the weather. He tried to keep honest, reliable, always remembering his
mother's guidance and advice, but that earned him derogative, derisive
nicknames from his bold companions.
One day=
a priest
approached the boys with the view of giving them a home in a charitable
children's' village where th=
ey
could learn a skill. By then he was tired of his unending freedom, of not
belonging anywhere, so he took his chance. Carpenting was his favourite
pastime, but soon he found he liked gardening best. He loved to work in the open air, to feel free as =
a bird.
Father =
Giovanni
taught him to read and write, provided him with some books on the subject =
he
was interested in. He went often to the flower market to look at the beaut=
iful
specimens, gradually he became an expert in growing the most exotic types =
of
blooms. Now, in his present
employment, he could expand =
his
ambition and experience to grow anything that took his fancy. Mr. Mason would buy all his requi=
rements
without question.
The bla=
ck Mercedes
made good time through Piazza Barberini,&=
nbsp;
along the streets devoid of traffic, heading towards Santa Maria
Maggiore and the colourful and noisy market of Piazza Vittorio. Mr.Mason l=
ooked
at all the familiar sights, =
places
he used to walk to in his younger days, a pleasure now denied to him. This=
was
no time for recrimination, he always said that he had a good life and when=
his
time came, he would have no regrets, he would try to keep cheerful and he
wished the people around him to do the same. Still, he was looking at Rome as if he w=
as
seeing it for the first time, or perhaps, the last.
The car=
was now
speeding towards the autostrada that would take him South, to Naples and Amalfi, to that haven on earth that was t=
he
Hotel Cappuccini on the Riviera Amalfitana. He smiled at Miss Saville next=
to
him, as to reassure her of h=
is well
being, then savouring the forthcoming pleasure, he shut his eyes and eventually n=
odded
off. When he opened them aga=
in, the
breathtaking view of the gulf of Sorrento was in front of him, as the driv=
er
was carefully managing the precarious coastal road leading to Amalfi, to t=
he
entrance of the hotel, a previous convent. Miss Saville had never been the=
re
before, so he tried to point to her some of the magnificent sights along t=
he
way. Vesuvius, looking like =
a God
towering above Naples. Positano, set like a jewel between the blue of the =
sea
and the deep green of the valley,
"i galli",
the cocks, the =
two
rocks said to have been home=
to the
syrens, where many unfortuna=
te
sailors met their doom.
The aga=
ves in full
bloom, very tall and slender=
, held high their cups filled with =
yellow
blossom, their offerings to =
the Gods.
Soon th=
ey were at
the foot of the rock where the hotel Cappuccini 's entrance is, and the lift that was to take the=
m to
the top. The long lane of columns leading to the front door made a pergola=
with
grapes hanging from its roof. In this garden the monks used to take their
evening stroll reading their breviary while thanking God for their pleasan=
t and
serene life. Mr. Mason was a frequent visitor to the Cappuccini.
At his =
arrival it
was the manager in person who would welcome him. The manager of pre-war da=
ys
used to say that he treated his customers as if they were all kings, and i=
ndeed
some of them were kings, and his friends. A few places on earth could be
compared with this haven, high up, suspended above the sea in a frame of g=
reen,
among orange and lemon groves and beds of begonias, camellias, hibiscus, the wa=
lls
covered with clusters of bougainvillaea.
There a=
re many
anecdotes about the people that run the Cappuccini hotel, who were well known for their des=
ire to
please their precious clientele.
Every e=
vening one
of their most succulent dishes would be sent to the captain of the boat on=
the
Amalfi-Naples service, on co=
ndition
that he should not blow the ship's siren in the early morning, so the hotel's guests should not =
be
disturbed in their sleep.
Another=
anecdote
relates to the invention of "cannelloni", which is supposed to have occurre=
d in
Amalfi at the Cappuccini hotel, by
the hand of a chef, Salvatore
Coletta, in 1924. For this
event, the bells of the chur=
ch in
the convent pealed to tell the Amalfitanians of the discovery .Even the ch=
ef of
the rival hotel Luna, situated at the other end of the bay, ordered their =
bell
ringer to join in the celebration, after he tasted the divine dish. As the=
news
spread, all the churches followed suit.
All thi=
s Mr. Mason
was recollecting from his memory for Miss Saville's enlightment, when the
manager came to greet him, a=
young
new manager. As his wheelchair was pushed in by Ernesto and Miss Saville.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>
"T=
he sea air
will put you right in no time, Mr.Mason, and our chef will see to that
too", he beamed, adding with a smile, " ... and, of course, the capable hands of your lady
friend". This remark di=
d not
go down well with Miss Saville.
Mr. Mason quickly introduced her a=
s "My nurse, from the American hospital".=
In the
meantime, in Via Sistina, an=
other
departure was taking place. Joe Perotti and his wife Giovanna were leaving=
for
New York. A yellow taxi arrived at about 10am and Marco loaded two cases i=
n its
boot. Giovanna looked a little apprehensive, when she came out, after Marc=
o had
announced the taxi's arrival. To go on such a long flight, for the first t=
ime
in her life, at her age, ........was that really the right=
thing
to do?
She wou=
ld be with
Joe, her children were happy for them to take this holiday, so she shrugge=
d her
shoulders and attempted a smile!
She con=
fessed to
Marco- "I did not sleep
properly last night. I kept thinking of being in space, so high up and I c=
ould
see everybody down here, then I would start falling and falling. I woke up=
with
a great jerk, sweat pouring from all my body."
Marco a=
nd Maria
smiled and Joe joined in, la=
ughing
and reassuring her for the hundreth time:=
"Would you want to take two weeks to go to New York like my pa=
rents
did? Everybody travels by air now."
They sa=
id goodbye
to Marco and Maria. The other servants had gone already, so the great house was gradually
emptying, the shutters were =
all
closed, bringing a quiet sadness in the air. Marco would be the last one t=
o go,
he would drive his Fiat 127 after Maria's brother arrived, later in the da=
y.
"W=
ill we ever
all come back here?" they were asking each other, with doubt in their eyes. T=
hey
shook hands, wishing each other a
good holiday, then Giovanna and Joe climbed into the taxi that went off to=
wards
Fiumicino and the Leonardo da Vinci airport. The day was beautiful, Marco's prediction had not materi=
alised,
the forecasted storm had disappeared from the horizon, much to Giovanna's =
peace
of mind.
After the formalities of checking =
in for
their Alitalia flight, a str=
ange
calm had supplanted her fear=
and
now she was looking forward to this new adventure in her life. She was gla=
d she
had agreed to take this trip.
Joe had=
wanted it
for a long time and Mr. Mason had encouraged them. "You must book the=
best
seats on the plane and the best hotels", these were his words.
In New =
York they
would stay at the Plaza hotel, with
a great view of Central Park. There
were so many the things Joe wanted Giovanna to see where he had lived, the=
tenement
house in Carmine street, Lit=
tle
Italy, the sights of New Yor=
k, the
places where the priest had given him the rudiments of Italian history and=
art.
The church of St. Anthony of Padua, which in June sponsors the feast of the
Saint, with an open air fair and great quantities of Italian food. Would a=
ll
that still be there?
How wou=
ld the
years have changed the City?
To visi=
t the
galleries and the museums would be one of the priorities, after all he felt
pride in the thought that he had taken part in providing some of the works=
of
art for one of the best, The
Metropolitan.
After N=
ew York, on
the memory trail, he would take Giovanna to the place where he was born,
Central City, in the state of
Colorado.
"F=
asten your
seat belts, extinguish your
cigarettes" the announc=
ement
came over the loudspeaker, soon after they got to their seats.
They we=
re strapped
in, in the first class secti=
on of
the 747 bound for the Kennedy airport in New York. Joe took the pipe out o=
f his
lips and put it out, a gestu=
re he
always regretted. His friends used to say he must have been born with a pi=
pe in
his mouth, as nobody seemed to remember him without one. Although the doct=
ors
had warned him that smoking =
would
probably kill him in the end, he
had not taken the slightest notice of the warning, even when he had been t=
aken
seriously ill a couple of times with lung and throat trouble.
"W=
hat does it
matter?" he would say "I have already lived long enough".
"A=
sk
anything, but not this"=
.
He was =
now
fulfilling a life time promise to himself and to his wife. to travel again=
to
the land of his birth and the city where he had lived as a young boy, where he had memories of his exis=
tence
in the far away past. It was with a sense of pride that he was going to ta=
ke
Giovanna where it all began, the
love for the Arts which had been the plough that marked the furrow of his =
life.
For man= y years he had to put off the trip. The children were growing up, they got married, t= his had kept them very busy, then Giovanna had been seriously ill and had unde= rgone a couple of operations, ending up with having one of her kidneys removed.<= o:p>
The ste=
wardess
made them comfortable, broug=
ht
drinks and food. Giovanna was enjoying her flight: it did not feel as if o=
ne
was up in the air. Everybody looked calm and cheerful. Feeling more confid=
ent
she thought she would look out and took the courage of pressing her face
against the window. She was pleasantly surprised. Although the sun was shi=
ning,
what she saw made her think of a Winter's day :a marvellous sight of what
looked like an unending snowbound field, where the sun had melted the top
surface, making small pockets in a regular pattern, as if it was made of some rough t=
extured
material. She felt one could just walk on that field to a fairy tale land =
on
the other side of the horizon. This was an experience she did not expect a=
nd
she would not have missed for anything.
A film =
was going
to be shown soon, so the cur=
tains
were drawn. Joe put on his earphones, plugged them in, tuned on the music =
and
looked at the screen.
This mu= sic was not real music for him, it was loud and vulgar, he could not call this "music", the type = he liked, so he pushed the ear piece away from his ears and just looked at the screen. He did not see the characters, the dancers cavorting in front of h= im. There, on the screen, = he could see himself, as by magic, it was his life that was being projected, = from the time when his parents, Virginia and Augusto, got married and had taken= the step to emigrate. That was a film he was going to follow with gripping interest, the film that was being unfolded in front of him by his memory.<= o:p>
CHAPTER =
3
1895. A small village at the foot of the Central
Appenines.
Augusto=
and
Virginia Perotti had been married for seven years and although they were
longing to have some children, luck had not been on their side. They had
dreamed of a large family, of some strong boys to help to carry on the wor=
k in
the fields and to take over the large farm
when their old age came.
Friends=
now
commiserated with them. "She cannot have any children" they said=
. It
was always supposed to be the wife who could not produce an heir, never the
man. It was unheard of anybody doubting the husband's virility and his
reproduction power, so=
all
the condemning eyes were on Virginia,&nbs=
p;
making her feel miserable and guilty of some obscure crime of which=
she
was not aware, least of all =
how to
make amends.
She lis=
tened to
all the village "comari", the gossips, the know alls, for enlightment and advice.
"I=
f children
have not come by now, =
only
the work of the "fattucchiera", the witch of the village, could
possibly help", she was=
told.
Virgini=
a had tried
all the remedies family and friends had advised her to look for, all the tricks they knew, that could help to make her pregn=
ant, she had been given so many potion=
s to
drink that made her feel quite sick, to no avail.
"Y=
ou must
have been cursed by an evil eye" an old woman told her one day.
"Maybe a jealous admirer of Augusto" she added, "he was a good catch, with t=
hat big
farm of his parents that one day will be all his" Augusto being an only child.
"T=
here was a
lot of bad feeling amongst the young girls when he preferred to choose his
bride from another village."
Quite a=
few had
hoped to become Augusto's wife.
"L=
isten to
me, my girl, why don't' you go to see Santina,=
she is
the only one who can undo the evil eye and if she cannot help, there is no=
thing
anybody else can do. You must try her."
Virgini=
a was not
so sure about going to see Santina. All night she lay awake pondering whet=
her
she should or should not go. She did not want to incur Augusto's anger,
He coul=
d see
through her tricks, the way =
she
played with people's emotions to get the most gain for herself. She was a
master in terrifying someone of an impending catastrophe, only to be the o=
nly
one to know how to avoid it, and so inspiring the people's gratitude when in the first place there was=
no
disaster at all.
Only a =
few persons
could really see this, usually the men and they would be angry if they fou=
nd
out that their wives had been so gullible as to be conned by Santina's smo=
oth
talk into parting with some goods from their meagre larder. Virginia feared
Augusto's anger, but she knew him well enough to realise he would not oppo=
se
any effort from her part that could help,=
if that just made her feel happier.
Tossing=
and
turning in her bed, even when she was not asleep, she always dreamed of ba=
bies,
mostly children of her friends, who by now had two or three each. She had =
been
asked to be Godmother to a few and that made her feel worse. Standing in t=
he
Church, by the Font, holding a lovely cuddly bundle in her arms, knowing t=
hat
another person, much luckier than herself, would have the happiness of bri=
nging
him up, of feeding him, while she was being denied the knowledge that part=
of
her body was growing into another human being.
She had=
lived a
pure and honest life, August=
o had
been the only man that had furtively kissed her, before they were married,=
for
him she had kept her virginity, so important to win the love and respect o=
f the
man that would take her to the Altar.
He was =
kind and
gentle, never made her feel uncomfortable or guilty, when they discussed t=
heir
life and hopes in the privacy of their bedroom. This was the only place wh=
ere
they could confide in each other without other people around them, in this
case, Augusto's mother and father.
He was =
an only
son, a very rare situation for a family in the village. His mother had been
very ill at the time of his birth and she was lucky to be alive, but she w=
as
told that she could not have any more children. All the family hopes had been now=
pinned
on Virginia to have a good number of sons and daughters.
On a Su=
nday
morning, they could lie in bed a little longer than usual. Augusto's fathe=
r was
the first up to feed the animals, so the newly wed had a little time for
themselves, before getting ready for the Sunday Mass, the social event of =
the
week.
Before =
having his
bath, which Virginia prepared in a corner of the kitchen, first for him th=
en
for herself, Augusto's task =
was to
clean the stable from the night straw and cow pats which he wheeled into a
barrow to the manure pit at the back of the house, then he laid fresh straw for the =
next
night when the animals came back from the fields and from the pastures.
Lying c=
lose
together, they dreamed of a better future, confided in each other their wo=
rries
and their hopes, which invariably ended with "If only we had some
children!"
These w=
ere usually
Virginia's words, while Augusto's answer to console her was: "It is G=
od's
will and we must accept it.
One sle=
epless
night, Virginia suddenly decided she would not hesitate any longer and she=
said
to herself: "If there is
anything at all that Santina can do, I am going to give it a try".
Pleased=
to have
made up her mind to resolve her problems, she finally fell into a sound sl=
eep,
only to be awaken a couple of hours later, by the sound of crowing cocks w=
hen
the first early workers started for the fields their tools rattling across
their shoulders.
She jum=
ped up,
realised that Augusto was up already. She quickly got dressed and started
preparing the fire for cooking the breakfast - polenta in the cauldron with
sausages, one of Augusto's favourite breakfasts. She would go to Santina as
soon as the meal was over and Augusto out of the way.
An old =
woman was
going to accompany her, called by everybody "la pelata", the hai=
rless
one, because it was common knowledge that she had no hair at all, although=
she
always wore a scarf tightly knotted on her head. Evidently she was sufferi=
ng from
a scalp disorder about which she never confided to anybody, but it was no
secret that she was as bald as a ball.
In rare=
occasions
a sudden squall of wind had taken her by surprise whisking off the ever pr=
esent
scarf and leaving her at the mercy of the village gossips. Virginia called=
at
her house and together they set off towards Santina's home, the clairvoyan=
t, the one whose help one sought in =
times
of trouble.
When th=
ey arrived
Santina welcomed them in her kitchen and invited Virginia to sit down at t=
he
table in front of an open fire,
where a large cauldron was hanging by a hook attached to an iron ch=
ain
blackened by the soot. The k=
itchen
was comfortable, by the village standards, considering that Santina had no=
land
from where to get any crop, only a small vegetable patch which she did not=
make
much effort to look after. Somebody else always did it for her and her lar=
der
was full of good food. You could see at first glance that she was well off=
. A
sack of grain and one of maize were propped up in a corner waiting for the
miller to collect for grinding on his next trip to the village, a few salami and a big ham were h=
anging
from the ceiling, a
"pigna", a type of
earthenware bowl, cont=
aining
beans was simmering on the embers,
a few chickens were strutting around the place, and a basket with a few eggs fres=
hly
plucked from the nests, stil=
l warm,
was on her table. She was not short of a few liras, either.
Next to=
the house
there was a small shed, a sty, where she kept a pig that would give her me=
at
for most of the year. On the mantelpiece above her fire, she kept a jar of=
"confetti cannellini",<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> small sweets made of sections of =
sticks
of cinnamon covered in sugar. She used to give them to the children as rew=
ard
when they did errands for her and helped to carry her water pitcher. Often=
, if
she was in a mean mood, she would cruelly enjoy the disappointed look in a
child's eye when she purposely dismissed him or her without a thank you and
without stretching her arm to reach for the magical pot on the shelf. On h=
er
frequent trips to town she usually came back with something for her home,<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> bought at the weekly market.
Saturda=
y was
market day and invariably she found somebody willing to give her a lift to=
town
in their donkey cart. As a matter of fact, people were eager to take her w=
ith
them. Once in town, they had=
to
park the donkey and cart in a communal stable for the day. To pay for this
service could turn out to be quite expensive, depending how many hours the
donkey was left, whether all day or half a day. If Santina came, the owner=
of
the stable and some of his friends would gather to have their future told =
and
this took care of the charge.
Nobody =
knew
Santina's age. She must have been at least 60 years old, but her skin was =
so
wrinkled, like a turtle's, she gave the impression of being much older. Her
eyes were bright and piercing,
showing the cunning awareness and quick thinking for which she was =
well
known.
Before =
starting
her session with Virginia, Santina got rid of the Pelata. "There is no
need for you to stay, your presence could spoil my power", she explained, showing the door to the disappoin=
ted
woman, then, winking to Virginia with a smile, she commented: "We do not wa=
nt
everybody to know our affairs",
closing the kitchen door behind&nb=
sp;
"la Pelata" and
placing a chair against it as there was no lock, so nobody could barge in during t=
he
session. She even shut the shutters, which were not slatted, but made just=
of a
plain board, ill fitting, so they let in either side a beam of strong ligh=
t,
which came in to give a
"chiaroscuro"
effect to the place. It took a few minutes for Virginia's eyes to a=
djust
to this semi darkness.
Santina=
asked
Virginia the purpose of her visit, which really was a superfluous question=
, as
she was well aware of everything that was going on in the village and also=
the
previous day la Pelata had instructed her in full. Very shyly Virginia ope=
ned
her heart to her.
Santina=
was the
seventh child of a peasant family who, as the custom of the time, had named all the children by num=
bering
them in order of birth. So there were Primo, Secondo, Terzilio, Quarta, Qu=
into,
Sesto. When the seventh, a girl,
was born, the event was considered extra ordinary by the fact that =
the
amniotic sac was unbroken or, as the peasants put it, the baby was born wi=
th "her shirt on". This me=
ant
that this child would enjoy good fortune all her life, and hidden powers. So S=
antina
had been known as the powerful one,
regarded as a Saint, =
or
witch? and was given a name to fit her - "Santina", the little Saint.
Her gra=
ndmother
was supposed to have introduced her to the mystery of witchcraft, to a mag=
ic
world , a secret corner full of dreams and frights.
She cou=
ld tell the
future, make people better, make ghosts appear and disappear, contact the =
dead,
and she lived well out of the payments, mostly in goods, that people showe=
red
upon her, for services rendered, not so much for the solution to their pro=
blems
which should be expected to follow in due course, but for not incurring
They be=
lieved her
powers were stronger in revenge than in any cure. No children would quarrel
with her, nobody ever crossed her path, she was looked upon with great
deference by the majority of the villagers.
She had=
married,
but her husband had died in a accident in the fields. It had been an horri=
fying
event. He was crushed to death by a run-away cart, careering down a slope =
when
a couple of oxen got freed from a badly fastened yoke as villagers were br=
inging
down some tree trunks that had been cut in the woods above the village. No=
body
had queried Santina's power of reading into the future on the morning in
question, but tongues had waggled in secret whispers, who knows? It might =
have
just been her curse, as it w=
as
common knowledge that her marriage was not one of the happiest unions.
She had=
one
child, Annetta, who was married and lived in a
neighbouring village, where =
her
husband came from and where her mother was not very welcome as she was reg=
arded
as an embarrassment rather than an asset.
Santina=
got out
from the "madia", a
scrubbed wooden dresser, use=
d in
the making of bread and past=
a, a bowl of white china, filled it three quarters full wit=
h water
from the pitcher on her draining board.
As in a=
ll the
other houses, there was no r=
unning
water indoors, just a draini=
ng
board and a sink under which a large tall bucket caught the dirty water one let out.
Next,
It had =
been a
great disappointment to her that her daughter did not share her enthusiasm=
in
the field of magic. Santina would spend much of her time on long walks up =
the
mountain, coming back with basketfulls of herbs. Nobody was allowed to go =
with
her or to see what she had picked. In great secrecy in her home, she clean=
ed
leaves and twigs, before boiling them up in the cauldron. The essence from
those herbs, mixed with virgin olive oil, oil from uncrushed olives, was t=
he
base of the mixtures to be used on so many occasions.
She pic=
ked
hundreds of plants, roots, berries and flowers, to make remedies for a gre=
at
number of illnessess. There was always the danger that if somebody was ver=
y ill
and trusted her concoctions instead of calling a doctor, the coffin maker and the grave di=
gger
would be the busiest persons of the day.
Santina=
picked
violets for epilepsy, garlic, wild sage, gentian, elderberry for rheumatis=
m,
saffron, camomile, basil for insomnia,&nb=
sp;
fig, juniper for women to help them to have regular periods, digita=
lis
for blood pressure and so on, just to enumerate a few of her popular choic=
es,
the ones she openly used.
When sh=
e boiled
her brew, everybody could know from the odour that emanated from her kitch=
en
and they would comment
"Santina is filling her magic cupboards!"
When al=
l the props
had been laid on the table, on a clean white cloth, Santina asked Virginia=
to
place her hands flat on the cloth, in front of her, then she lit the candl=
e. By
its flickering light the shadow of Santina's head was projected on the wal=
l opposite, bringing an aura of mystery and m=
agic that
gave a shiver to Virginia's spine, while her eyes were fixedly drawn to
Santina's face, rocking now from side to side in an hypnotic trance.
Santina=
sat in
front of Virginia holding her joined hands together on top of the bowl
muttering some incomprehensible words. Then she poured a few drops of the =
oil
on the surface of the water. A few seconds later she asked Virginia to mix=
the
liquid with the index finger of her right hand. She put her spectacles on =
and
screwed up her eyes to read =
the
oil's message.
The spe=
ctacles had
been given to her by a doctor who once had visited her house many years be=
fore,
when her daughter was very ill and her power had not been strong enough to=
cure
her. The doctor had diagnosed pneumonia and in those days there was not a =
great
chance of survival with such a killer disease. Fortunately for Santina and=
for
the girl, who was then 13 ye=
ars
old, a kind villager managed=
to get
quickly the required remedy.
Only by=
attaching
two or three leeches to the part of the lungs affected, there was a chance=
that
Annetta would come out of the crisis. The doctor marked a circle with a bl=
ue
pencil where to place the slimy creatures.
Santina=
had
confided to the doctor that her sight was not as good as it used to be and=
she
had great difficulties in choosing and spotting the herbs she was looking =
for.
Maybe she had not picked the right herb for the occasion, she had to provi=
de
some excuse for the failure in curing her own daughter, she would have nev=
er
dreamed to have to call on a doctor! He knew all the people in the village=
and
always regarded Santina as a joke. With pleasure he donated her a pair of his old =
glasses
which Santina tried and decided they improved her sight. The real reason w=
as
that she thought the spectacles gave her an air of dignity, of importance,
which was invaluable in her line of business.
The lee=
ches came
in a bottle. Santina placed one by one in a small cup, by making them slid=
e,
then pressed the upturned cup against the flesh where the doctor's mark wa=
s. When
the first leech had dipped its fangs and started sucking blood from her
daughter's back, she repeate=
d the
operation with the second, then the third leech, until they were all busy
filling themselves with the blood and their shape was quickly swelling,
changing from looking like a worm to an inflated sausage and they were sti=
ll
sucking. Soon they had the appearance of elongated balloons and when their
bodies could no longer hold any more liquid, they detached their hooked fa=
ngs
from their victims, which in this case was not a victim, but a lucky recip=
ient
of their services, then they rolled down the girl's back and they were dis=
posed
of.
Their w=
ork was
done. Some hours passed before the girl was out of danger, but she did rec=
over,
no thanks to her mother's potions. This was one of the thorns that punctur=
ed
Santina's otherwise successful career.&nb=
sp;
Even with her glasses on she had to screw up her eyes, to read the =
oil's
message.
"T=
he evil
eye has been annulled"<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> she said to Virginia ".. but there are stil=
l some
obstacles to surpass. There is a
cloud on the horizon and only when this cloud disperses I will be able to =
give
you more definite news". The
elements needed to be in Virginia's favour during the next full moon, she
explained.
Santina=
removed
her glasses. This meant she was ready to receive her payment as she had
finished her session.
Virgini=
a uncovered
two beautiful chickens she had carried in a basket which she had placed be=
hind
the front door when she came in. She put them on the table from where Sant=
ina
had just removed the clean cloth. The chickens started squawking, trying to
free themselves from the tape tied around their legs. Santina's eyes sparkled with gree=
d,
while she thanked Virginia, who produced still another present for Santina=
: ten
new laid eggs wrapped in a white serviette which she had in another basket=
.
"C=
ome back
soon", Santina smiling =
shook
Virginia's hands. She was obviously looking forward to the next consignmen=
t!
Virgini=
a could not
keep from Augusto the fact that she had visited Santina. To her surprise, =
he
did not react the way she thought he might. For quite a while he had been
worried about managing the farm, as his parents were getting on in years, =
and
he had to rely on occasional help from friends and relatives. With no chil=
dren
there was no looking forward to the
future and the time would come when he would have to dispose of some of the
land.
That ev=
ening, when
they were in their bedroom, Augusto sat on the bed asking Virginia to come=
and
sit next to him. He had something he wanted to talk about, something that =
had
been in his mind for a while. Her
heart sank. What could be troubling Augusto that she did not know already?=
His
sorrows were her sorrows, they shared the sadness of their fruitless union,
what could be on his mind now?
She clo=
sed her
eyes waiting for some disappointing news. He went straight to the point.
Augusto's words were a surprise to her,&n=
bsp;
when he started by saying
"Do you know what Aldo, my cousin, is thinking of doing? He wa=
nts
to go to North America and has asked me to go with him."
"Y=
ou?"
cried Virginia, thanking God it was nothing worse, but shocked at the thou=
ght
of herself being left, like many other women who were left behind, when th=
e men
emigrated.
"I=
mean
us", quickly came the reply.
"I=
would not
leave you", he reassure=
d her.
"This is a chance for us to go and try our fortune. We do not have any
children to worry about, so we can go together. The worried look that had
clouded Virginia's face, qui=
ckly
disappeared.
Aldo ha=
d a wife
and two children. His plan was to leave the family in Italy and let them j=
oin
him when he was well settled. Aldo
had told Augusto that the Italian Government had embarked on a policy of
encouraging and protecting emigration. Legislation had been introduced to
furnish information about opportunities abroad.
Due to a high percentage of illite=
racy,
the Italians found only chances for employment on the construction of
railroads, on mines, as barb=
ers,
shoemakers, stone cutters. They worked long hours, lived frugally before retur=
ning to
their native country in the expectation of living comfortably on their sav=
ings.
Over one million of Italians emigrated to the U.S.A. before 1900.
Numerou=
s were the
people dissatisfied with living conditions in Italy who became involved in=
a
class movement popularly known as "American fever", which spread from village to vill=
age.
This feeling was transmitted by the letters written by immigrants to relat=
ives
and friends back home. The "America letters" were read in
houses, in markets, in parish
churches and they were published in newspapers.
The lan=
d of
plenty, the absence of class
distinction and conscription, low taxes, high wages, abundance of food and
clothing were calling the people to the U.S.A. The mighty dollar was becoming a =
God to
be worshipped as a saviour, as powerful as a Saint in Heaven.
"I=
n a few
years perhaps we can make en=
ough
money to be able to come back and live comfortably for the rest of our liv=
es on
our savings. It is a wonderful opportunity. What do you think?" Augus=
to
asked.
Virgini=
a just
smiled, a wide, broad smile, while she wholeheartedly approved.
It real=
ly sounded
like an opportunity too good to be missed, she thought keeping nodding and
smiling as she was choked by emotion and was lost for words .It would not =
have
been the done thing for any woman to comment with too many words on her hu=
sband
decision. She was lucky to have been asked for her approval.
Virgini=
a was not
against the thought of leaving the village. That was not her birthplace an=
d she
had not been happy there. She had lived there since her marriage and, afte=
r the
adjustment to her new life, =
she had
always been saddened and disappointed by not becoming pregnant. She felt l=
onely
and useless, it was with a sense of relief that she greeted her husband's
proposal. When she got over the first shock, all she could say was: "I
will follow you wherever you want to go".
They de=
cided to
leave as soon as possible. With Aldo's help, Augusto prepared all the necessary
documents and went through all the arrangements needed to emigrate. The
preparations to leave the village did not take them long, there was not mu=
ch to
arrange.
The vis=
it to
Santina was now becoming a thing of the past. After a second encounter wit=
h the
"witch" Virginia had come to the same conclusion as Augusto. San=
tina
was only a "con" woman up to any trick for her living. Many mont=
hs
had gone by since she had assured Virginia that she would become pregnant.=
"O=
n the night
of the full moon you will conceive",=
had been her final words. Many full moons, new moons, and all the phases of the moon ha=
d come
and gone without any change =
in
Virginia's body. Going away, starting a new home, in another country was a=
challenge she welcomed. She was y=
oung,
healthy, she wanted something else out of life rather than just feeling so=
rry
for herself and for Augusto .
Some re=
latives
would keep an eye on things =
for the
aged parents who would go on living in the farmhouse, while the land would=
be
farmed by neighbours. All their possessions fitted in one trunk and two fi=
bre
cases. The trunk was the one Virginia her brought her trousseau (il corred=
o) in
when she married and where she kept all her linen, sheets, towels, blanket=
s,
tablecloths, and lengths of unmade up linen woven with her own hands to be=
used
as baby clothes.
She nea=
rly left this last item behind, in a =
fit of
anger, but then one never knows, what the needs in a new country might be.=
She
paused for a moment to think of herself on her wedding day, when her trunk=
had
been placed in the newly decorated bedroom, ready for the happy couple. A =
shy
bride, expecting from life only hard work and the pleasure of making her m=
an
happy by producing a good number of children. Tears ran down her cheeks, w=
hich
she promptly wiped with the back of her hand.
There w=
as no time
for recriminations and sentimentality, she decided and went on with her packing. Relativ=
es and
friends were in and out of their house, bringing presents, helping, giving=
advice,
feeling sorry, sad, and, why not, perhaps a little envious.
"A=
merica will
be a marvellous country to live"&nbs=
p;
they all kept saying. Yes, but none of them knew of anyone who had =
ever
come back. As the time drew nearer, in Virginia's mind, fear superimposed =
the
elated feeling of expectation, the fear of the unknown "abroad".
America was synonym of "=
;bigger
and better". Abroad was a word very seldom used in their circle. It m=
ade
people dream of lands where everything was easy, work hard, but the reward=
very
high. America, apart from being "abroad", had the extra attracti=
on of
being "American", with so much added flavour. America was the pl=
ace
abroad par excellence. "The sidewalks are paved in gold" was the
popular saying. Maybe it was so, the gold would be there to be taken, but =
the
digging was going to be hard, perhaps harder than any of the emigrants had
bargained for.
Augusto and Virginia were going wi=
th
their eyes open. They were not afraid of hard work. Their gold would be in=
the
fact that with their work they would be able to afford better food, clothe=
s,
all the things America could=
offer
them. So the day of their departure drew nearer. All the villagers came to=
say
their good-byes well before dawn, on September 15, the day of their depart=
ure.
Virginia had said farewell to her own family a couple of weeks earlier, wh=
en
she went with Augusto to spend a few days at her old home.
On that=
fateful
day, Zio Filippo, an uncle of Augusto,&nb=
sp;
arrived in his horse drawn cart at 7am to take them to the main sta=
tion,
in the town of Valledoro. They were there in good time. Their trunk had be=
en
taken by Aldo to the station in the town two days earlier to be registered.
They would collect it once in New York.
They bo= ught their tickets and when the train arrived, after a quick goodbye to zio Filippo, = they climbed on to the train. There were plenty of seats in the 3rd class compartment, where Aldo came to share the accommodation. Augusto lifted th= eir cases on the rack, while Vir= ginia hang on to the bundle of possessions that she had wrapped in a coloured sc= arf, with knotted corners, bundle which she never let out of her sight. And und= er the folds of her very full skirt, tied around her waist, was a string purse with all the money they possessed. It was a much safer place for the money= to be, rather than Augusto's pocket, where he only held a very small amount.<= o:p>
They ha=
d been
warned of pick-pockets, of the variety of con tricks they could fall victi=
ms to
in the wide world and they were taking no chances. The journey to Genoa wo=
uld
take 24 hours, then they would sail on the "Cristoforo Colombo" =
one
of the largest liners to cross the Atlantic.
Once on=
the train
they made themselves comfortable, but the third class wooden seats were ha=
rder
than a cart seat and the excitement too great to be able to close their ey=
es.
Virginia had never been on a train and had never seen the sea. Augusto had=
been
to the capital of the Region once, to Ancona, a city on the Adriatic sea, =
in
connection with the emigration documents so he had savoured these two new
experiences.
Approac=
hing the
Western shores of Italy suddenly the first glimpse of the Tyrrhenian sea w=
as
there which Augusto proudly pointed to Virginia.
"M=
amma
mia" was all she could
say, "..could all that =
be
water?"
The ext=
ension of
the blue patch was so great she had never imagined even a field that big. =
And,
what were those people doing,
waving those sticks? Even Augusto was baffled, with a sense of sham=
e and
inferiority, as he could not answer Virginia's question. He had not seen
anybody row before, either, but Aldo came to his rescue.
At ever=
y station
the train stopped there were more and more people boarding it until there =
was
no more room even to stand. Some were sitting on their luggage, others on =
the
floor. They all started conversations, as they realised they were all boun=
d for
the same destination: the ship that would take them to America.
The tri=
p was
getting exciting already, they decided, as the train drew, puffing and
whistling, into that great centre that is Genoa station. An official with =
an
armband came along the train to tell the emigrants not to get out because =
the
train would proceed to the
" =
stazione
marittima" the quayside=
. They looked out of the carriage w=
indow.
It was bedlam, such a crowd was meeting the train. Porters, men, women and children, all addi=
ng to
the noise, shouting to be heard. Carrying cases, sacks, bundles, trudging =
along
while meeting and greeting relatives.&nbs=
p;
A sea of noises that engulfed a sea of humans!
On the =
opposite
platform where a train was about to leave,
most of the clamour was produced by the vendors, pushing their trolleys along, sho=
uting:
"G=
IORNALI!", "PANINI!", "BIBITE!" .... papers, rolls, drinks.
Augusto=
noticed
that they were selling their merchandise at exorbitant prices to the poor
devils who had not been provident enough to take with them all they would =
need
on a long journey. He felt very proud of Virginia who had insisted she wou=
ld
pack as much food as she could. One of their cases was filled to the brim =
with
provisions.
Soon th=
e train
took them to the harbour. Their trunk was already in the ship's hold, while
they were left with the suitcases that contained all they would need for t=
he
sea journey. Virginia held tight on to her bundle.
They st=
ood for a
few moments at the bottom of the gangplank looking at the enormous monster=
that
faced them: those smoke belching funnels, and those pigeon holes in rows a=
ll
over the side ......so many people lining the decks, and they all looked so small, waving white handkerchiefs which =
they
intermittently used to wipe their tears.
"Let's go" Augusto murmu=
red,
gently pushing Virginia up the steps.
She sta=
rted
walking and, as she got near to the top, she nearly lost her balance. She =
felt
the steps sway under her feet and if it had not been for Augusto's strong =
grip
on her arm, she would have fallen flat on her face. As they reached the to=
p,
they looked back.
The qua=
yside was
full of people saying goodbye to relatives sailing for the USA. A sea of
faces, crying, waving, shouting although they could not =
be
heard above the noise of the engines,&nbs=
p;
the cranes, the ship'=
s horn
that kept blasting its lugubrious sound at brief intervals.
Nobody =
was ashamed
to cry, the people who were =
left
and the ones who were going. They knew that in the majority of the cases t=
hey
would not see each other again. It was like saying goodbye to the dying. N=
obody
had come to see Virginia and Augusto off in Genoa, but they too, were crying without=
shame
or reservation, leaving their motherland, the people whose tongue they sha=
red,
for the unknown land that laid on the other side of the Ocean. Nobody knew what to expect.
The acc=
ommodation
in the boat was very rough, in the steerage there was no privacy, for men =
and
women alike, the luckier ones had a bunk, in a mixed dormitory, others just
slept wherever they found some floor space lying on a blanket or a coat, so
crowded were the conditions. The food was disgusting, but sea sickness took
care of that. For the ones w=
hose
stomach bravely stood against the pitching and rolling, there were plenty =
of
sausages, salami, cheese that they had brought with them. The women spent =
their
time looking after the children, sewing, knitting and gossiping. Getting t=
o know
one another, people from every corner of the Italian peninsula thrown toge=
ther
by Fate, was exciting enough .
It took=
care of
the boredom that would have set in and of the feelings of doubt, fear and =
in
some cases, recrimination. The men kept themselves busy in unending card g=
ames:
briscola, scopone. The wagers being cigarettes or a welcome "toscano&=
quot;
cigar, an unexpected pleasure for the heavy smoker. During their journey,<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Augusto and Virginia got to=
know
so many couples in the same circumstances as themselves, or men alone, who=
had
left their families behind, hoping to be able to send very soon some money=
back
and also to save enough to be able to come back one day with a well earned
fortune.
On the =
fifteenth
day they had been told they =
would
see New York. That morning they crowded the railings of the decks, eyes fi=
xed
on the horizon, where, through a light mist, one could make out the outlin=
e of
buildings, tall, very tall buildings, the like they had never seen before,=
then
as the boat drew nearer, suddenly the statue of Liberty confronted them, i=
n all
its majesty.
"E=
vviva! Ecco
l'America", they cried,=
their
hearts pounding with joy and trepidation.
Here is=
America.
Here we are. The most important chapter of their lives was about to begin.
After the formalities of the arrival, they disembarked at Ellis Island,
"The island of tears", that had replaced as receiving place the =
old
sorting centre of Castle Garden, an old fort at the Battery. Here the newc=
omers
were given a number, which was pinned on their chest, as they waited in a
milling crowd. They were called by their number, interrogated, then examin=
ed by
a doctor for a check on their health.&nbs=
p;
When they had passed all the tests, they were handed over to other
officials who would guide them on the last lap of their travels. A very lo=
ng
train journey was ahead for the Perotti and Aldo, across half the length of the United States, =
to
Central City in the State of Colorado, where the gold mines were waiting to
engage them.
CHAPTER =
4
Central City,&=
nbsp;
Colorado, U.S.A.
Where w=
ere the
green fields and hills, pervaded by the fragrance of wild herbs and flower=
s,
the trees, the bracing clean air of
the mountains they had left behind?
The min=
es of
Central City, where many of the Italians in the Perotti's company were goi=
ng,
were a far cry from the countryside they were used to. All around them, the
view to admire was bare of vegetation, the hills were the rugged heaps of =
dirt
from the mines. The only, and very impressive consolation the emigrants ha=
d,
was given by the jingling of the dollars in their pockets which was a cons=
tant
reminder that they were now in a position to buy food, clothes, live
comfortably as they had never done before.
They ha=
d houses
with running water, toilets, even baths.
"T=
hey live
like lords" was the com=
ment of
the relatives in Italy, the ones whose only joy was to have the letters re=
ad
again and again, by the priest, or by the teacher when there was one in the
village. At the same time the
fortunate ones who could live and spend as if they really were lords, were
generally very modest in their needs. Their main target was to save, as mu=
ch as
they could, for the day when they would be able to see again the families =
they
had left at home.
Life wa=
s much
harder than they had expected, but soon for Virginia and Augusto a new cha=
pter
was beginning, a new part of their life which took them by surprise.
Virgini=
a had made
some good friends in other wives, one in particular, Eufemia, who came fro=
m a
neighbouring village in Italy. Eufemia had three children, two of which, t=
win
boys, had been born in the U.S.A. Often Virginia, who was always very fond=
of
children, gave her a hand to=
look
after the babies: she missed the ones of her friends at home. One day, as =
she
was feeling a bit under the weather, she thought she would talk about it to
Eufemia, as she did not want to worry Augusto, saying that she might be il=
l.
She had always enjoyed good health, so she was no expert in the matter.
Something was nagging her.
It was =
a shock
when she missed one period, coupled with a strange feeling. Often she felt
sick, found herself eating and still feeling hungry, with a continuos pang=
in
her stomach, which seemed insatiable.
"C=
ould I have
a worm inside me?" she thought. She once had heard of people suffering
from such a condition.
When sh=
e missed a
second period, she was sure she must be ill, she must have some tumour,
something which ate her inside and gave her this inexplicable hunger. She =
told
Eufemia all this and to her surprise and annoyance she did not seem to tak=
e her
seriously. She smiled, yes, she was positively smiling. Did she not believe
her?
What di=
d she think
could be wrong with her?, Virginia asked again.
"I
think", came the reply,
"that you are going to have a baby, that's why I am smiling&qu=
ot;
"I=
am so
happy for you", added E=
ufemia.
"N=
o, it
cannot be, you are wrong. After so many years of waiting, I do not believe
you"
"I=
f you do
not trust my judgement, let us ask Celeste", said Eufemia. Celeste was the one who acted as =
midwife
in their community. She came in no time at all, examined Virginia and she =
too,
smiled confirming the news.
"G=
o, tell
your man. Think how happy you will make him", said Celeste, who knew =
all
about their past dashed hopes.
That ni=
ght, as she went to bed with Augusto, =
very
tired after a hard day, Virginia snuggled next to him, trying to keep him
awake. "Do not fall asl=
eep,
please, there is something I want to tell you".
"C=
an't it
wait until the morning?", came
the weary answer.
"N=
o, this cannot wait another
minute, although I have wait=
ed nine
years already".
"N=
ine
years", Augusto suddenly
jolted, realising that=
nine
years was the time they had been married. "And what have you waited t=
o tell
me for nine years? he asked, now wide awake and aroused with curiosity, but
also with worry.
He look=
ed at her,
but seeing her so radiant, happy, looking younger than he had seen her for=
a
long time, he realised it could not be bad news.
Again h=
e thought:
nine years... Could it be?,
"No I must not even think", he told himself but as he gazed i=
nto her
eyes, she nodded, saying:
"Y=
es. Yes, I
am. We are going to have a baby".
They we=
re
bewildered by the sudden change of luck. What would Santina say now? She w=
ould
probably find an explanation in her propitiatory antics, hoping for an ext=
ra
large reward. They laughed at the thought, overjoyed while waiting for the=
ir
first born.
All the=
ir friends
were very generous. They brought presents, even a cot, as the time of birt=
h got
nearer. Virginia went on preparing, sewing, knitting, happy as she had nev=
er
been, pleased she had not left her baby linen in Italy.
Soon th=
ey were
blessed with the birth of a boy, a lovely chubby bundle with blonde hair a=
nd
blue eyes .Virginia was at the apex of her happiness, she never thought she
would be able to savour such joy, when she cradled for the first time the =
baby
in her arms. They christened him Joseph, Augusto's father's name, which they shortened to "Joe".
Aldo wa=
s his
godfather.
Virgini=
a could not
believe one could be so fulfilled, so happy, as she was when she had her l=
ittle
Joe in her arms. To watch him grow, smile, sleep, cuddle him, feed him, was
something she had wished for so long, that made her so attached to him, mo=
re
than anybody could believe.
She nev=
er left
him, nobody could do anything for him. She took him out, talked to him, to=
ld
him stories, even when he was too young to understand. All the years of
waiting, of wanting this baby so badly, were now reflected in her behaviou=
r, in
this deep love and in the need of spending all the time in his company.
Joe gre=
w very fond
of both his parents, but the bond between him and his mother, was so very
special, a feeling which he nurtured all his life.
The Per=
otti's luck
was not at an end. In six years Virginia produced four children, two girls=
and
two boys. Their family and their life was now perfect, America had given t=
hem
not only rewards for their work, but the incentive of life itself, the hap=
piness
that had eluded their union for so many years in the old country.
They ha=
d four
beautiful children to be proud of:
Joe, Nina, Geremia (Jeremy) and Natalina. Nina's name was really
Caterina, Geremia was the name of Virginia's father while Natalina had so =
been
called because she came into the world on Christmas day, "Natale"=
;. As
they grew up, they all went to an American school. Augusto's ambition was =
that
they should become proper Americans, that they should know the language to=
perfection,
so they could have a good future in this new country of theirs.
As time went by, he realised that =
because
of the young ones, the plans he had made on leaving his motherland had to =
be
changed. It would be now impractical even to think of going back to Italy.
Maybe, when his working life came to an end, Virginia and himself would be=
the
only ones to go.
The chi=
ldren
learned to speak Italian at the Church of Saint Christopher's Sunday schoo=
l,
where an Italian priest talked to them all the time in the language, so th=
ey
were bilingual without any effort as the parents also spoke Italian at hom=
e.
Virginia spoke little English, while Augusto made a special effort to mast=
er a
good deal of the new language. Nearly all the women of the immigrants spoke
their own language when they met, this helped the ones who felt homesick a=
nd
sorry for themselves.
Virgini=
a had no
time for such weakness: her family kept her very busy and she never dwelt =
in
the past. Life ran smoothly for the Perottis. They fitted in the Italian
community of Central City as an honest, hard working family, while the
upbringing of the four children was a credit to Virginia who found time ev=
en to
prepare meals for some miners, friends of Augusto, who had left their fami=
lies
behind in Italy.
The par=
ish priest,
Don Dario, became their friend and adviser. He helped the community in var=
ious
ways and even started an evening class to teach the illiterates. Virginia =
had
then the chance, which she gladly took, to learn to read and write. Don Da=
rio knew
every family and every joy and sorrow that occurred to them He was the one=
to
read the letters from Italy, if they were unable to do so themselves and
All wen=
t well
until Augusto was struck by illness. The doctors diagnosis was "gold =
dust
pneumoconiosis", the miners disease. For a while Virginia had feared =
for
his health since the first attack Augusto had suffered and his increasing
difficulty in breathing. The American Authority, who looked after the welf=
are
of the workers, follow=
ing the
doctors advice, decided to g=
ive him
a holiday in his country of =
origin,
hoping that the native air would bring him back to good health. Taking into
consideration the children's schooling, they came to the conclusion that
Augusto should go on his own. His relatives in Italy would look after him =
and
in a few months he would be back as good as new.
As the =
children
had never been outside Central City, Augusto and Virginia thought they would give them a tr=
eat:
they would all go to New Yor=
k to
see Augusto off. They would stay for about a week with their old friend
Aldo, who now lived there. T=
he
mines were not for him. He had stayed only a few months, then he had gone to the big city =
to try
his luck there. He had started as a waiter, in a bar, then he had changed his job to be=
come a
hotel porter and now he had been promoted to doorman. He wore a splendid
uniform, with gold buttons, braid, all shiny, and a peaked cap that made h=
im
look like an officer of an extinct army.
He loved America, his wife had joi=
ned him
and they too had four children. They lived well and did not spare expenses=
for
their comfort. He told his friends that he would never think of going back=
to
Italy, but maybe, one day, when old age came, he might consider crossing t=
he
big pond again.
Augusto=
's journey
had been booked for September 10th, on the liner "Carlo Alberto di
Savoia" bound for Genoa. Aldo had taken a week off from his work to be
with his friends and to take them around the city. They enjoyed meeting ag=
ain
after all those years while the children of the two families got to know e=
ach
other. It was a great holiday for them all, the only cloud on the horizon =
being
Augusto's illness.
On Sept=
ember 7th
it was Virginia's birthday. Augusto thought he would make it the one she w=
ould
remember. He knew how much Virginia admired handbags which were the fashion
now, an object which she had never dreamed to possess. It looked such a us=
eful
item for keeping money, rather than the string pouch she tucked in her
capacious pocket, or tied around her waist like when they had travelled fr=
om
Italy. It was really uncomfortable.
"S=
he deserves
it" thought Augusto. On=
that
special day, which usually nobody remembered, except herself, Augusto came=
back
from an outing with Aldo and the children holding a parcel which he gave h=
er,
shyly whispering :"Happy Birthday". Bashful as a young boy, doing som=
ething
he had never done before, giving his wife a present on her birthday.
Virgini=
a was taken
aback with surprise. She undid the ribbon and opened the box, carefully li=
fting
the object wrapped in layers of tissue paper, while Aldo, Rina his wife, t=
he
children, stared with open mouths. When Virginia removed the last sheet of=
paper
and saw the handbag, she lifted it up, took it to her nostrils, to savour =
the
scent of the leather closing her eyes, with such feeling of joy and
gratitude. Radiant with happ=
iness,
she had no words to thank Augusto. The look in her eyes said all. This wou=
ld be
the treasure with a special place in her heart for years to come, for all =
the
years left of her life.
She exa=
mined her
present. It had two compartments, with pockets, a purse and a mirror. She
closed it, pushing up the two levers at the sides until they clicked into
place, then she placed the handle on her left arm and looked at herself wi=
th
pride. She felt like a million dollars.
There w=
ere no
tears when Augusto sailed. They all were pretty confident that soon he would be able to come bac=
k a
healthy man. After the ship sailed, Aldo saw Virginia and the children off=
at
the train that would take them back to Central City making her promise tha=
t if
she needed any help she would call on him. She faced the events with great
courage. With the help of fr=
iends,
who always had praised her cooking, she transformed one of the rooms of th=
eir
home into an eating place
"Alla tavola di Virginia", at Virginia's table, where sin=
gle
miners could have their main meal of the day.
This ve=
nture had a
great success, paid well and although&nbs=
p;
it was great strain for Virginia to work so hard, she felt happy to=
be
able to save money for when Augusto came back. The children were at school=
, but
when at home they all helped her, especially Joe, who was the one she could
rely upon, much more than Jeremy, who had from infancy a marked dislike fo=
r any
work.
Virgini=
a soon
became known as the best cook in the district. The letters from Augusto we=
re
cheerful, Virginia was so proud to be able to read them by herself and to
answer them. He was feeling =
better
and the doctors hoped soon he would recover enough to plan his return.
For a w=
hile these
were everybody's hopes. Unfortunately, when Virginia was already looking
forward to his homecoming, a letter from the village priest arrived to das=
h all
her hopes : Augusto had had a collapse and was very ill in hospital. Calml=
y,
Virginia took her decision: she would&nbs=
p;
go back to Italy as soon as possible. She contacted Aldo who was her
best adviser and made up her mind to leave with the two girls. The boys wo=
uld
stay in New York with Aldo's family until they finished their education, e=
ven
if up to the minimum standard.
She dis=
posed of
her possessions, while Aldo arranged for the passage on the first ship
available. The two boys, one of which was 13 and a half and the other near=
ly 11
years old, would follow in two or three years time.
They al=
l packed
their belongings, knowing too well what a sad turn life was taking for the=
ir
family. Virginia knew that the two boys would be well looked after. Althou=
gh
her heart ached at leaving them, especially Joe, she wanted to respect
Augusto's wish that they should have an American education. So she said go=
odbye
to them in New York and with the two girls by her side, walked up the gang=
plank
of the big ship again, this time without the strong arm of Augusto to supp=
ort
her. Now she had to be the strong one, to face the world with the added
responsibility of a growing family. The journey was an unending torment.
The las=
t letter
from home had been a little encouraging. Augusto had passed the crisis and=
for
the moment his condition was stable. On the boat she could not settle down=
to
do or think of anything else but of how she would find Augusto and when he
would recover. The thought of his end never crossed her mind. When they ar=
rived
in Genoa, her brother had come to meet them. By his look she suddenly knew=
the
irreparable had happened. She was too late even to see her beloved Augusto
again. He had been buried two days earlier.
She fou=
nd life in
Italy much harder than she had remembered, but with the savings and the re=
nt
from the land, which was paid in goods, she managed to live comfortably by=
the
village standard. Father's death was a shock to the boys too. Joe decided =
to
come back sooner than Virginia had expected and stayed just over one year =
in
New York, while Jeremy thought that life in Italy would be too hard for hi=
m.
Aldo would eventually find him a job and he could stay with the family. Th=
e two
brothers had never been close, their character was miles apart, so there w=
ere
no tears spilled when they parted and Joe left for his new country, because he thought it was his dut=
y to
join his widowed mother and help the family.
He had =
come to
love Italy, not only through his parents description, but through the greatness of its =
artists
and the beauty of their masterpieces. The priest in the little church in
Carmine street, near where Aldo lived, had often taken him on visits to art
galleries, museums, in particular the Metropolitan, introducing him to the
world of art. He was the only boy, from the classes of Italian that the
children of the neighbourhood attended to be interested in such a subject =
and
Father Christopher had taken special care that Joe should be able to widen
his knowledge in this field.=
Joe
knew Italian well, he could speak fluently and he could write well enough
thanks to the classes which he always had attended first in Central City a=
nd
then in New York.
It was =
a sunny
Winter's day when the ship that was to carry him to Italy sailed from New =
York
Pier, past the statue of Liberty. He was not yet fifteen years old, but he=
was
very much grown up in his thoughts, in his feelings, in his responsibiliti=
es
towards his family. He was carrying with him some of the heritage of an
American upbringing, some of the culture of his native land and the love f=
or
the freedom of body and mind. He looked at the skyscrapers disappearing in=
the
mist at the horizon, then he turned his back to the country of his birth,
focusing his eyes on the vastness of the ocean, across which he would have=
the
first glimpse of the gate of Europe at Gibraltar and soon afterwards the
country of his parents.
When he=
lay in his
bunk that night, lulled by the gentle rocking of a near calm sea, he could=
not
close his eyes, he could not go to sleep, so many were the question marks =
he
wanted an answer to. He felt and hoped that he would not regret the step h=
e was
taking now, abandoning this world of great opportunities.
The alt=
ernative to
this journey would have been to get a job and send money to his mother, bu=
t he
felt it would have contributed to the disintegration of the family. It was=
not
just a matter of money, but a
matter of family ties, the feeling he had always had for his mother. She n=
eeded
her children's spiritual support and at the same time she would be the anc=
hor
to keep him afloat in the tempestuous ocean of life waiting for him.
Like be=
ing
shipwrecked on a desert island, he knew he would need all the strength of
thoughts and body to build his future in the unknown land that would becom=
e his
home. He felt he was right in his decision.
CHAPTER &=
nbsp;
5
1911. Giovanna
Two you=
ng
brothers, Espartero and Tonino Sardi lived
in Central Italy in a small town, Sentino, at he foot of the Appenn=
ines.
Like so many young men of their day unemployed and with little or no prosp=
ect
for the future, they decided to emigrate, not to The United States, where =
most
of the emigrants were going to work,
but to South America, which was another very popular place, althoug=
h not
as rewarding as the U.S.A. would be.
Argenti=
na in
particular, whose language, =
with
the same philological roots as Italian, sounded more familiar, was preferr=
ed
by the less adventurous type=
s, the
ones a little scared of landing in a country where they would feel really
"foreigners". They
thought they would feel more at home with the Spanish speaking people.
Also because many had relati=
ves
there, they would have contacts which would be very helpful during the set=
tling
period. They sailed from Naples,
accompanied by their parents blessings, leaving a great emptiness in the =
home:
"I=
shall
never see you again" were their mother's parting words.
There w=
ere also
three girls in the Sardi family, Maria, Ada and Giovanna. This helped the
parents to get over the loss of the two male members. The journey to Buenos
Aires was to last forty days. A friend of their father, who had emigrated =
to
Argentina some years earlier, was waiting to welcome them and to help them=
to
settle down. Giovanni Casini was a barber, like the Sardi's father, who ha=
d a
shop in the town of Cordoba. Situated on the fringe of the "Sierra de
Cordoba", the place vag=
uely
reminded of their home mountains, the Appennines, their peaks snow-capped =
in
Winter.
Casini'=
s business
was doing very well indeed. The shop was in a good district of the town an=
d he
lived with his wife and daughter in a small flat over the shop. Mr. Casini=
knew
a lot of people, apart from his skill for hair cutting and for shaving, he=
had
the knack of keeping an interesting conversation going on with his custome=
rs
while working. He could chat about everything and he was very amusing too,=
as
result, he had a varied and numerous clientele, a fact that he knew how to=
turn
to his advantage when the need arose.
So thro=
ugh a
friend of a friend, in a manner typically Italian, he soon found jobs for =
his
two protégés, in a foundry where brass beds were made. Brass bedst=
eads
were very fashionable with the upper class of the population and were sold=
in
many parts of South America. The brothers were very honest and good worker=
s who
soon got the hang of the new skill. Tonino, who was gifted in the art of
drawing, provided new designs and soon both became indispensable to the ru=
nning
of the small factory.
Sometim=
es, when
they were free, they gave a hand in the barber's shop, as they had helped =
in
their father's salon in Italy since when they were young boys. From sweepi=
ng
the shop and preparing the lather for shaving, they had graduated to shavi=
ng
and to cut some people's hair, mostly children, as the father was not very
confident that they would please the fussier of his customers.
The two=
young men
stayed to live with the Casini, as part of the family, whose members,
especially Mr. Casini, were overjoyed to have friends from the motherland,=
to
be able to talk proper Italian,
instead of the Italo-Spanish mixture the immigrants ended up by spe=
aking
to each other. Poverty in Cordoba as in the whole of Argentina, was
indescribable. It would have been very difficult to find a reasonable,
clean, convenient room and l=
odging,
so Espartero and Tonino were very grateful to their father's friend for
welcoming them in the heart of his own family.
Eventua=
lly Tonino
moved out while Espartero fell in love and married the Casini's only daugh=
ter,
Franca. The wedding was an event which pleased both families, the Italian
parents happy that Espartero's future was now secure, while the Casini felt
fortunate to have such a nice young man as their son in law. Lacking a son
themselves, they now knew there would be somebody very suitable to succeed=
to
the father's business. A few months before the wedding Mr. Casini had offe=
red
Espartero to join him in the running of the barber's shop, which he did,
leaving all together the brass bed factory. They had been married only for=
a
short time, when Casini suddenly died of a heart attack. Espartero became =
the
owner of the barbers shop and he dedicated all his time to it. The family =
in
Italy was happy at the turn of the events, although sorry for the loss of =
their
friend. Both young men had d=
one
very well, with the help of some strokes of luck and their mother Anna cou=
ld
now sleep peacefully at night. She had heard so many heartbreaking stories=
of
emigrants, of their poverty, their disillusions, their pride which would p=
revent
them from coming back home if they had not been able to make a go in their=
new
country. She knew now that her boys were earning a good living and, who kn=
ows,
they might even be able to come back one day.
Alas,
First t=
hought of
Espartero, the better off of the two, was to go back home to see the famil=
y but
what could he possibly do? That would be no help. For the first time since
leaving home, he felt the frustration at being so far, impotent to help, w=
hen
with all his might, this was the thing he most wanted to do. He thought and
thought, together with his wife, and the only answer that came up to satis=
fy
his worries, was that his mother and his sisters should come to Argentina =
and
live with them.
The thr=
ee sisters
were Ada, Maria and Giovanna=
. Ada
was engaged to be married very soon to Rudello, an engine driver in the
railways. The wedding was put forward, and this took care of one sister. M=
aria
also was engaged but her fiancé did not have a stable job, so getti=
ng
married for her was out of the question at that time. They decided he coul=
d try
his luck in Argentina where they would then get married and settle. They w=
ere
hoping to be as lucky as the brothers had been and in this way the family =
would
be united.
This le=
ft Signora
Anna and Giovanna, who was fourteen years of age. So the four sailed to th=
eir
new life, little knowing what to expect, but happy at the thought of being
reunited with members of their family. They sailed, as their brothers had done before=
from
Naples, on the long trek to Buenos Aires where Espartero and Tonino would =
come
to meet them.
Travell=
ing on the
boat was a nightmare. It was dirty, the food was poor .Some people had bun=
ks,
others slept on the floor, a mass of bodies exuding a mixture of odours. T=
he
men separated from the women, was the only concession to privacy, if it co=
uld
be so called to share a dormitory with dozens of women and children.
Giovann=
a took
everything in her stride, to her this was a real adventure and, having her family with her, in
particular her mother, was all that mattered. During the journey, those fo=
rty
never ending days, she spent her time reading, embroidering, without a wor=
ry in
her head. She had read about the romantic, handsome Argentinians, horse ri=
ding, playing the guitar, it would be f=
un to
meet a nice one and who
knows.......she might even marry one!
She kep=
t a diary
where she wrote about everything interesting, finding the funny side to da=
ily
events and to people she met. When the ship docked in a port in North Afri=
ca, a
group of Negroes was brought aboard. It was a strange sight for Giovanna w=
ho
had never before seen a colo=
ured
person, but a sight which disappeared quickly as the Negroes were confined=
down
to the lowest part of the ship where they were kept for the rest of the
journey. They were just fed on potatoes, always and only potatoes, so she =
was
told by one of the stewards who befriended her and kept her informed of al=
l the
gossip.
The day=
s were
passing by very slowly. There was a terrible storm when the boat was tosse=
d by
huge waves, stomachs took the brunt of it and nobody could eat for days, b=
ut
all laid down, the prayers to "Our Lady of the sea" being on
everyone's lips. It was the =
only
time Giovanna really felt frightened. Worse was to come. As they recovered=
from
the effects of the storm, they were only a short distance from the Brazili=
an
coast, when the ship's engine broke down.
The shi=
p was to
call at Rio de Janeiro, then proceed on to Buenos Aires. There they were,
stuck, and it took eight days, drifting in the wake of the waves, before t=
he
engine was repaired. <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It was a beautiful day when finall=
y the
Brazilian coast loomed ahead. A
light mist obscured at first the horizon, clearing as the ship drew nearer.
Giovanna was determined to see as much as she could and called her sisters=
to
join her on deck. What a sight in front of their eyes: those cone shaped h=
ills,
rising from the jagged coastline, looked like hunchbacks. Giovanna had read
about them in a book , amaze=
d that
this name should fit so well to their description. =
;
As the =
ship docked
in Botafogo Bay, where in the sixteenth Century the first Portuguese settl=
ers
had landed, Giovanna's friendly steward pointed out to her so many strange
trees, the very tall palms, the coconuts, things all new. She was told that
some of the emigrants were to disembark in Rio, as they were heading for
Santos, a town just North of the capital. Also the negroes would be taken
ashore, when night came, to go to work in a coffee plantation near Sao Pau=
lo.
Although slavery had been abolished about ten years earlier by Princess
Isabella, slave smuggling was obviously still going on. Giovanna thought o=
f the
young man with those sparkling white teeth who had smiled at her when they=
had
boarded the ship. Feeling sorry for his fate, she realised he would be soo=
n the
property of some wealthy "fazendeiro" in this vast, luscious cou=
ntry.
At dawn=
the next
day they were back on the high seas heading for Buenos Aires. When the ship
docked, after the thrill of the reunion with the brothers, they proceeded =
by
train to Cordoba where they all would live. It did not take long for Maria and
Amedeo to find that Argentina was not the place for them. They disliked the
country intensely. This was not the America of the dreams of all emigrants=
, of
pockets full of money after a good day's work. Here, even if you were lucky enou=
gh to
earn a decent wage, it was not the almighty dollar jingling in your purse,=
but
a very poor relative indeed. Back in Italy the peso would be worth only a
fraction of the North American currency.&=
nbsp;
The bes= t way to find jobs was to go out to the interior of the country, in the haciendas, = where the work was hard and the wages low. Only after a long period of working literally your guts out, you could possibly end up by owning a small piece= of land . There was no room for the ones who hoped for easy access to a world= of wealth. If you ventured to the outskirts of town, you got the picture of t= he life of the ones who had not made it, the ones who lived in squalor, in the Calle entre Rios. The street between the two rivers was typical abode of t= hese "desesperados": they lived in huts, riddled with vermin, bugs and flies, no running water, a paraffin stove for cooking, furniture almost non existent, just planks of wood which made up for beds, tables and chairs. <= o:p>
The sad=
thing
about it was that also the people who worked hard often had to share the s=
ame
living conditions. Maria and Amedeo were appalled by the poverty, the unhy=
gienic
conditions people lived in, by the very hard work for very little money mo=
st of
the immigrants had to put up with. With the family's blessing, they marrie=
d and
sailed back to Italy at the first opportunity.
With mi=
xed
feelings, happy at being with Espartero and his wife, sad at the thought o=
f the
sisters such a long way off, faced by the challenge of everything new and
strange, mother and Giovanna tried their best at conforming with their new
life. The disillusion, which had dashed all the hopes they had leaving Ita=
ly,
had been a great shock to them.
Living with Espartero's family, they did not have to endure discomf=
ort
or poverty. The barber's shop was doing very well, he had two apprentices =
to
work with him and this reflected in the comfortable life his family enjoye=
d.
Even so, Mother was getting more homesick as the days went by. She wept silently at night but co=
uld not
hide her sorrow, thinking of the dreadful mistake she had made to bring her
youngest daughter to live in this country. She was not concerned for herse=
lf,
but her heart was aching for Giovanna.
Giovann=
a, on her
side, had found herself a temporary job, in a shop, while trying to learn
Spanish. She wished she could go back to school to receive a higher educat=
ion,
but she knew this would be impossible for the time being, so she tried har=
d to
look contented, for her mother and her brother's sake. Friends would say, =
to
her annoyance: "Soon you will find a nice young man to marry!"
The Arg=
entinians
she had met so far, had soon dispelled the dream she might have nurtured o=
nce
of meeting a handsome stranger! They were short, a feature she always disl=
iked
in a man, they were very dark, but, what she had noticed with revulsion wh=
en
she had been at close quarter with any of them, they had a peculiar smell,
which reminded her of the odour of wild animals. Yes, they were part of the
country's wild life, she concluded. Since then, when she thought of the
Argentinian population, she would always refer to "the Argentinean
peculiarity". She could never have married one of them. The new Itali=
an
immigrants were not much of a catch either. Very few made a good living, t=
hey
were nearly all from the peasant class, hardly any had any education and s=
oon
they forgot even how to speak Italian, making up a very strange language of
their own Italian dialect with Spanish endings.
Esparte=
ro could
see that things were not going as he had hoped, so one day he took his mot=
her
on her own and she eventually opened her heart to him. She feared he would=
be
upset and angry, after having spent so much money in bringing the family o=
ver,
but, to her surprise, he suggested that she should go back home to live wi=
th
Ada to whom he had already written. He would pay her fare, but at the mome=
nt he
could not afford Giovanna's fare as well, so she would have to work for a =
while
and save up for it. Signora =
Anna
was moved by such kindness, but she decided straight away that she would w=
ait
until Giovanna was able to sail and they would go back together. She would not leave her young dau=
ghter
behind.
Oh, wha=
t a relief
that talk with her son had been, she knew her beloved husband looked after=
them
from his place in Heaven. She must go to thank God in the nearest church. =
That
same afternoon she went and asked Giovanna to accompany her. The church was empty, except for a
priest who was tidying some objects on the altar. He was surprised to see the two w=
omen
and came towards them to greet mother and daughter. They were not new to h=
im:
he had seen them in church on Sundays and he knew Espartero's family. They=
went
on talking, he spoke good Italian and this was a treat for both of them. S=
oon
Signora Anna was telling him all about her plight. He listened, then smiled
broadly:
"M=
y good
sisters" he said "you have come at the right =
time.
God has indeed shown you the way"&nb=
sp;
.... "Come and see"
he added. He led them to the church's notice board, pointing to an
advert, written in Italian. Giovanna quickly read it, her face beaming, wi=
th
surprise and happiness.
"W=
hat does it
say?" her mother kept asking, baffled, as she could not read nor writ=
e.
"T=
ell her,
Giovanna," encouraged the priest, "read her the advert".
With a =
trembling
voice, choked by emotion, Giovanna read "Wanted .. Responsible chaper=
on to
accompany three small children to their mother in Rome. Fare and salary pa=
id to
the right person".
Giovann=
a felt a
knot in her throat. Had the advert been any longer she could not have read
another word, while her mother was shedding a few silent tears of happines=
s.
Next day, through the priest, they met Signor Ilari and his children.
He was =
a worried
little man, looking older than his age, who decided Giovanna must have been
sent by the children's guardian angels. His wife had left him two years
earlier, because she could not stand Argentina any longer. He was making a=
good
living, working for a firm which exported beef, tinned beef, "Fray
Bentos" of world fame. He wanted to stay some more years before going back=
to
Italy. His wife wanted to take the children with her, but he had been adam=
ant,
they should stay with him and his mother would look after them. Now his mo=
ther
had died and he did not know what to do. He loved his children dearly, but
there was nobody to look after them while he worked, so he had come to a
compromise with his wife: she could
have them until he went back to Italy.
He had = endured enough sobs, heartbreaking scenes from the three: a four year old girl, Ol= ivia, another girl, Sandra, who was seven, and a boy, Mario, who was ten. He put Giovanna in the picture, it would not be an easy task she was taking on. <= o:p>
The fol=
lowing days
the children spent as much time as possible with Giovanna and her mother, =
to
get to know each other. They had missed their mother terribly and reacted =
in
different ways to the fact of living only with one parent. The seven year =
old,
Sandra, was the most troubled. Apart from having nightmares, when suddenly=
she
screamed and sobbed, she would often burst out in awful tantrums whenever =
she
saw a normal family together: mother, father and children. She fought the =
only
way she could against the cruel destiny that had robbed her of the person =
she
most loved. She blamed everything and everybody for her bad luck: why coul=
d not
her mummy and daddy live in the same house any more? Why her family could =
not
be the same as the one of her school friend Amanda? Why this? Why that? Th=
en
she would suddenly calm down, silent tears running down her cheeks.
Once sh=
e said to
Giovanna: "When I feel sad I shut my eyes and I pretend that mummy and
daddy are here, one on each side of me". This sad outburst broke
Giovanna's heart. She promised to herself that if and when she married, the
happiness of her children would always come first.
The you=
ngest girl,
Olivia, was very young when her mother had left, she could not remember mu=
ch
about her, so she was quite happy and the easiest to get on with. The boy,
Mario, was very sad, he never talked about his feelings but he never showed
happiness in a smile, as a child of his age should. His father often heard him sob in=
his
sleep.
What co=
uld the
poor man do? To say goodbye to the children would be the most painful wren=
ch,
but knowing that they were in good hands and they would be happy with their
mother, would lessen the sorrow at temporarily losing them. He had decided=
that
as soon as possible he would join his family in Rome. No more Argentina for
him, not at the cost of losing his loved ones. Happily, when the day came,
Giovanna and her mother climbed the gangplank once again, into the great
transatlantic ship that would be their home for the next thirty five days,
holding by the hand the three children, skipping along, smiling broadly fo=
r the
first time since Giovanna had made their acquaintance.
They fe=
lt so
excited thinking of the journey in this great belching monster, that they =
very
casually said goodbye to the father who was in tears. They kept turning around to wave =
to
everybody, as everybody else was waving to someone. They thought it was gr=
eat
fun and this gave father renewed trust in his decision, he was sure now he=
had
done the right thing.
For Esp=
artero and
Tonino it was a very sad day, as well as for Signora Anna. They were sure =
this
was the last time they would see each other, but although they dreaded the
parting moment, they all would have something to fill their lives and to o=
ccupy
their thoughts: mother had the future of Giovanna, while Tonino and Espart=
ero
had their new families, wives with children on the way, new emotions of fa=
mily
life that would soon engulf the memory of unsettled and sad past years.
As matt=
er of fact
Espartero sailed back to Italy as a volunteer to fight for his Country in =
the
first world war. He gained a medal for his bravery, during the battle of
Caporetto. After the end of hostilities, he returned to his family in Arge=
ntina
and that was the last time Signora Anna saw her son.
Giovann=
a was quite
happy as there was not an emotional scene from the children in her care, w=
hich
she had been dreading, so she welcomed the distraction brought by the sigh=
t of
loading cranes, the shouts of the crowd, the general confusion and, most of
all, by the sight of the shi=
p,
which the children had only seen in books, as they had never been to Buenos
Aires, the great port from where they were sailing. The train journey had also provid=
ed
enough excitement to start with as well as the overnight stay at an hotel =
near
the quayside. The great "transatlantico" was a very comfortable =
ship,
and this journey was going to be much better than the one on the way to
Argentina, for Giovanna and her mother.&n=
bsp;
They had a cabin all for themselves and the children, their father =
had
not spared money for their comfort.
Three s=
mall
travelling cases had been brought into the cabin with the children's
belongings. When Giovanna op=
ened
the cases she had the shock of her life: clothes that could be described n=
ot
more than "rags" filled them, every item showed the lack of a mo=
ther
in the lives of Mario, Sandra and Olivia. Giovanna got busy to look after =
her
newly acquired family, while mother got the job of mending and altering th=
eir
clothes, so they would have something decent to change into during the tri=
p.
Straight away Giovanna embarked on the task not only of keeping the childr=
en
happy, but of teaching them the three Rs.
Suddenl=
y it
occurred to her that this would be the occasion to teach her mother too to=
read
and write. Signora Anna was in fact illiterate: in very rare cases girls o=
f her
status and generation had been allowed to go to school. It was not necessa=
ry
for them to learn a skill which they were not supposed to need as the men
were only the ones to requir=
e it
and to gain from such an acquisition. So, mother became a pupil too, to gr=
eat
amusement of the youngsters who loved every minute they spent with their
teacher. The days on the boa=
t were
long, but the two women filled them easily, while looking after the three
children, telling them stories, keeping them happy and clean, joining in t=
heir
play. After a short while in Giovanna's charge they looked contented, heal=
thy
and even Sandra was much more settled and calm, no tantrums or nightmares.=
She
listened to Giovanna's stories with such an interest, she loved the charac=
ters
and Pinocchio had become her favourite.
This tr=
ip with its
unusual occupation gave Giovanna time to think about herself, what she wou=
ld
like to do with her life. She made up her mind, she would go back to schoo=
l and
become a teacher, this she wanted <=
/span>with
all her heart, and she was thankful once again to Fate that had made her
realise her vocation during this sort of trial time on the boat.
They di=
sembarked
early morning. Signora Ilari was at Genoa=
quayside waiting when the ship docked. Giovanna handed over to her the
children, who were well prepared for the meeting, so happily they fell int=
o the
arms of their mother, who kept hugging them in turn, tears streaming down,
remarking how well they all looked and how much they had grown since she h=
ad
seen them last. They soon parted, after very gratefully kissing and thanki=
ng
Giovanna and Signora Anna. Nobody had come to meet them at Genoa, because =
Ada
had recently given birth to twins and was not fit to travel. Giovanna and =
her
mother took the first train to Belgrotto, where Ada and her family lived. =
A kind
porter collected all their luggage and found them an empty second class
compartment where they settled down.
They would spend there the next eight hours in comfort and much nee=
ded
peace. Ada and Rudello, her husband, would be waiting at the station.
It was =
a tearful
meeting for mother and daughters, but the tears were of happiness and reli=
ef,
being so marvellous to be reunited and to be able to settle down together =
after
such a worrying time of their lives. Ada and her husband had been blessed =
with
the birth of twins, a girl and a boy, so Signora Anna was looking forward =
to
her very useful role of Grandmother, while Giovanna started without delay a
course at the local "Scuola Normale" which would give her a teac=
her's
diploma by the time she was 20.
CHAPTER &=
nbsp;
6
<= o:p>
T=
he
Italian village of Montello, 1912.
Between=
the
Adriatic sea and the Appennines, at about 460 metres of altitude, lies the
village of Montello, surrounded by fields and hills where wheat, vines, ma=
ize,
pastures, grow.
Here Jo=
e found
himself at the end of his long journey.
The vil=
lage
consisted of a line of houses built on either side of a track of beaten earth. There were groups of three or four
terraced dwellings, stretched along for about 100 metres, in the shape of a
"T", the last few houses being built just under the side of the
mountain. Behind the buildin=
gs, on
both sides of the road, a small path took you to the back of the houses where the =
barns
stood, the manure pits, the haystacks, chicken coops, sheep folds, pig sti=
es
and all the other bits and pieces that make up a farm. Three quarters of t=
he
way up, the main road split up in two sections, one going west and one Eas=
t.
Just before the junction, on=
raised
ground, on the South side of the road stood the Church, with a large, clear
space in front of it. At one side of the church was the communal fountain =
where
everybody came to get water, piped from the spring situated about one kilometre up the mounta=
inside,
above the village, a place called "Capodacqua", Waterhead.
The fou=
ntain
had constant running water f=
rom a
tap above a stone plinth where housewives rested their pitchers . When the=
se
were full, they swung them to rest on top of their head where they gracefu=
lly
balanced them on the walk back home, while in their hands they carried two=
full
buckets of the precious liquid. The water in the pitchers was reserved for
drinking and cooking, while the buckets were for general use. The next trough was for rinsing c=
lothes,
after they had been washed in the third trough.
Joe was=
astonished
and fascinated by the way people lived and made ends meet. He would sit and
watch the housewives bash every piece on the stone draining board, washing
without soap which was a luxury only a few could afford. The sun did the rest and the resu=
lt was
just as good as if one had used modern&nb=
sp;
detergents.
On Mondays the place was more crowde=
d, as
they were "bucato" days, when the more soiled whites were first
washed, then taken home and put through the process called "bucato&qu=
ot;.
This re=
quired the
use of a "secchia", a sort of wooden barrel with handles, that h=
ad a
hole for drainage, resting on some bricks, to leave room for a bowl to fit
underneath.
In the =
secchia the
roughly washed white clothes were placed, the dirtier at the bottom, until=
all
the washing was in, well pressed and finally covered with a rough piece of
sacking. The secchia was filled up to three quarters of it=
s capacity,
to leave enough room for a layer of cinders, still warm from the
fireplace, which was spread =
on top.
When it was ready, it was time to pour on it bucketsful of boiling water, =
kept
in the cauldron. The water went slowly through the clothes carrying the
whitening ingredients from the cinders, then came out in the bowl. The liquid collected called
"liscivia" was used as
for general cleaning. The
clothes were left until the next morning, when they were removed and taken to the fountain=
for
rinsing.
The sec=
chia was an
implement put to so many use=
s, one
of which was to be a bath tu=
b for
every member of the family, placed in the kitchen, in front of the fire, f=
illed
with water from the ever present cauldron.
Of course, many families did not make such use very often, as the
Perottis discovered, to their discomfort, whenever they found themselves at
close contact with some of the other villagers. An old man confessed to Joe
that he never had a bath. He only washed his face and hands, and not very =
often
. "The sweat of the Summer washes away the dirt accumulated in
Winter", he proudly declared!
Joe's h=
ouse was
situated right at the end of the village, on the South side, the back faci=
ng
the mountain. Virginia had made some improvements to the old farmhouse,
bringing water inside it, having a toilet built, and wood stoves placed in=
every
room, to face the severe Winters.
These i=
mprovements
made them the envy and admir=
ation
of all the poor devils who had to carry the water by hand and had to make =
use
of the stable or of open fields for their most private needs. Virginia knew all the discomfort of life in an =
Italian
village, the years in the United States had been so much more pleasant and=
she
did not want her children to suffer, also in her heart she knew Augusto wo=
uld
have wanted them to have the best they could afford. She was resolved to c=
arry
on looking after her family, as well as she could, with Joe's help. He had
taken Augusto's place, in advising her and in making plans for the future.=
Every d=
ay Joe and
his sisters discovered some =
aspect
of life in the village that roused their curiosity .
The fou=
ntain was
the meeting place for the housewives, for the young girls, to have a chat,=
a
gossip and a giggle in between house chores and working in the fields. The=
re
you could hear all about arrivals, departures, who was getting married, wh=
o was
ill, who died, who went into service in the city.
In the =
evening the
men would be there too, at the cattle drinking time, bringing pairs of eno=
rmous
white oxen, that had pulled the ploughs and the carts, before taking the h=
erds
into the stables for the night. All the animals came then, crowding every =
section
of the fountain, gulping the very cool water with such a visible pleasure,
interrupted only by vigorous shakes of their heads, as they tried to shoo =
off
clouds of flies.
The las=
t to come
were the sheep, on their return from their pastures, either on the plain o=
r up
the mountain. It was then sh=
eep's
milking time and some had to be milked while having their turn at drinking=
, so
full their udders were, they could hardly walk.
Cows we=
re not
milked: only on special occa=
sions
like a grave illness or for feeding a newly born baby, a small quantity of=
milk
would be taken, as long as the calf did not suffer. Sheep were milked every day even if they sti=
ll had
lambs: their milk was indispensable to make cheese and ricotta, so much pa=
rt of
the people's diet.
A few m=
ore houses
past the church and its piazza, the "sagrato", you found yourself
face to face with the mountain, which rose about 1100 metres above sea lev=
el.
From the last house, a gentle climb
led to the waterhead, then the footpath became very steep and narrow, twi=
sting
and rising through deciduous woods, which were common land. Every family living in the villag=
e was
allowed a patch of woodland where they could fell their own firewood, and
sell the surplus. Only narrow
strips were allowed to be cut each year, giving the mountain a patchy look,
with some bare rectangles and others at different stages of growth, then,
higher up, the vegetation stopped to give way to the short pasture grass, a
large green expanse dotted with rocks right up to the very top. The crest =
of
the mountain range, the Appennines in Winter hooded with snow, closed the
horizon to the West marking =
the
border between provinces that lay on either side of the mountain chain.
Here an=
d there Joe
had encountered and admired small towns encircled by defensive walls,
precariously situated at the top of every hill.
The hou= ses of Montello, and indeed the houses of any village, looked more or less alike.= You entered through a large kitch= en, the most important room, with an enormous fireplace, where invariably food was being cooked. In the morning= , after a breakfast of "polenta", the staple diet of the country folks, = the fire would be kept down, the embers covered with cinders until the evening= when the family would be reunited, the fire revived and more wood then would be burned. The evening meal, often a dish of beans or some soup, was kept simmering for hours in a corner of the hearth, to be ready by nightfall. <= o:p>
Then th= e meagre meal would be eaten while sitting around the fireplace, in the cold Winter days, while in Summer they often took their plate outside, to sit on a ste= p or a large log. In Summer cooking was done on a "fornello", a small contraption of bricks with a grid on the top where charcoal was burned, ke= pt bright, while cooking, with a home made fan, provided by the long tail fea= thers of the turkey eaten during the previous Christmas. A large table, a few st= raw covered chairs, a bench, a "madia", a sort of chest used to keep= flour and to make bread and pasta made up the furni= ture. Every kitchen was black with smoke, the result of many draughty evenings of many Winters, when the strong easterly wind, the "Tramontana", w= ould push back into the room clouds of smoke which made eyes water and sting. <= o:p>
At spri=
ng cleaning
time, the housewives tried to brighten up the place by lining the mantelpi=
ece
with coloured strips of cut out paper, after a thorough wash, the "Ea=
ster
cleaning" so that the house would be ready to receive the blessing th=
at Father
Basilio came to impart on his Easter round. One of the highlight of Spring
time, was the blessing of the houses, when proudly every housewife took out
from the "baule", the trunk with the most precious linen, the be=
st,
and only bedspread, to brighten the matrimonial bed. Also the white linen
tablecloth to cover the kitchen table where she placed eggs, new season sa=
lami,
cakes, bread, to be blessed, some for the Easter breakfast and some to be =
given
to the young boy who usually accompanied the priest in this errand.
The goo=
ds would be
mostly for Don Basilio and only a small fraction for the boy to take home.=
The bed=
rooms were
also sparse of furniture, the walls
lighter in colour than the kitchen, but dull and with dirt and dust
accumulated with the years.
Painting a room was an expense only to be afforded for very special
occasions, like a wedding, when the newly weds usually had their room whit=
ewashed
before the wedding, to give them a more cheerful start to their honeymoon.=
It
was not heard of anybody going away after a wedding. The bride was the onl=
y one
to move from her parents home to the groom's place. Nobody even suggested they should=
live
on their own, it was just not done, so the bride was brought to live with =
her
in laws, who would be the masters. A large iron bed, a chest of drawers, a
trunk, that the bride brought with her linen, furnished the best bedrooms,
while the children would just have
to put up with a sack, "il saccone", filled with dried
rustling maize leaves, as their beds, placed usually in a corner of their
parents bedroom.
The onl=
y enjoyment
of these people, as Joe saw them, was to go to Mass on Sunday, which was
the social event of the week=
, where
they could meet their friends, dressed in their best clothes.
When pe=
ople
married, if they could afford it, they made a mattress with the wool from =
their
sheep, to lay on top of the one made of leaves, making the bed softer. A crucifix or a picture of a Mado=
nna
hung above the bed. More rel=
igious
pictures found a place in other parts of the house and St. Anthony's effigy
always towered above the stable door. St.Anthony and God would look after =
the
domestic animals and, to make sure that the Saint knew how many to take un=
der
his wings, on January 17, St. Anthony's day, from every house, stable, sty,
coop all the animals were taken to the square outside the church, where Don
Basilio, dressed in his finest robes came to bless them, sprinkling gallon=
s of
holy water, while invoking the Saint's divine protection from illness,
accidents, throughout the following year.
Saint A=
nthony's
day was an event nobody would easily forget, especially the youngsters, as
January 17 coincides with the beginning of the Carnival season making it a=
day
of happy reunions among friends, when the first "castagnole " of=
the
year are made, (a special dish for
Carnival) then a dance in the evening would bring a happy ending to the da=
y.
St.Anthony also doubled up his duties as a Saint protector of spinsters, w=
ho
prayed him to find them a husband.
"S=
he has been
left for St.Anthony", would be said of a girl, getting on in the year=
s,
who had not yet found a prospective partner. It is said that the custom of
venerating St.Anthony as patron of domestic animals, stems from the fact t=
hat
in the Middle Ages some monks introduced the custom of raising a pig in ev=
ery
parish. The pig had free pas=
ture in
the fields belonging to the parish and was distinguished from other pigs by
wearing a bell around its neck. It was to be butchered on January 17th,
St.Anthony's day and given to the poor.
=
Most of=
the homes
had an oven, that looked like a brick dome, but there was also a communal
baking place for the ones who did not possess one. Every Thursday, which w=
as
the usual baking day, Joe would watch the women going to the communal oven,
with long boards covered with white cloths, balanced on their heads, other=
s, on
special occasions, with baking tins full of tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines,
peppers, to be baked at the same time, together with poultry or rabbits. N=
obody
ever bought meat from the butcher in town. It was a luxurious item, well o=
ut of
the reach of everybody's pocket. There were no shops in the village, the
nearest ones being in Valledoro, 9km. away.
=
The Chu=
rch was
large, well maintained, with pews, pictures, a bell tower and a bell which
called people to Mass, to evensong, and tolled for deaths and for religious
festivities. A large statue of a Madonna stood at the side of the altar. D=
riven
by superstition, by faith, the villagers had almost covered the statue with
gifts of all sorts, mostly sentimental possessions, not being well off eno=
ugh
to give more precious objects. The
church upkeeping was dutifully looked after by the priest who drew a salary
from the religious authority, the Vatican. Don Basilio's house, the parson=
age,
was well furnished and comfortable, the garden well stocked with flowers a=
nd
vegetables. The parishioners who were privileged to be chosen to work for =
Don
Basilio, did it with pride, while to become a bell ringer was another much
sought task, the envy of all the young men who did not want to miss an occ=
asion
to show off their muscles.
Prudenz=
a was the
living in housekeeper, a woman of indefinite age, still young looking unde=
r the
dark clothes and shawl she always draped around her head. She was younger =
than
the priest, and, it was common knowledge that she fulfilled him in more wa=
ys
than her position should allow. . . . . .
Don Bas=
ilio was a
cheerful, extrovert person, who would joke about priests and priesthood, b=
ut he
would be a serious adviser to young couples and to people in need. Joe found in him a good friend, a=
person
he could talk to at an intellectual level which he did not find in any oth=
er
person of the community. He respected him for his open mind to look at thi=
ngs,
but he was never drawn towards the church by faith or conviction. He had
exchanged friendship with priests in many occasion during his life, but th=
is
did not make of him a religious person, He only went to Church rarely to p=
lease
his mother when he was young. Joe grew up a handsome man, tall, strong looking, with t=
he
frame of an athlete, blonde hair and a tanned complexion. He did not look =
at all
Italian. One of his sisters was as blonde as he was, while the other, had =
dark
brown hair, and she looked very much like the brother in America, but they=
all
shared the same blue eyes.
After h=
e married,
Joe never opposed his family having a religious upbringing but he restrict=
ed
his own visits to church to occasions like weddings, funerals and children=
's
baptisms. Life in Montello w=
as
certainly not comparable to that of Central City. Being the eldest of the =
four
children, Joe had to bear on his young shoulders the brunt of losing his f=
ather
while becoming the head of the family. He was, although of tender age, a c=
olumn
of strength for Virginia who knew she could rely on his help and advice on
managing the farm. He did not avoid manual work either, became quite an expert in wood cu=
tting,
while his main task was to engage and supervise the casual labourers which=
he
often joined in the seasonal jobs . So the years of his early youth went b=
y,
while he got accustomed to this life still dreaming whether he would see his native country ever again=
, his
old friends, or hold in his hands the bat for a game of baseball, which had
been his favourite sport of school days.
He lear=
ned to
shoot, he explored the mountains. He spent also much of his time reading,
trying to improve his education, while wondering what could he eventually =
make
of his life. His sisters learned the skills every girl was expected to lea=
rn
while waiting for a husband. Cooking, making bread, pasta, all the chores =
of a
housewife. They became experts at stretching the dough of pasta into a thin
sheet in the shape of a perfect circle, with daily practice, so after a short time, =
they
took that task out of Virginia's hands.
During =
the first
world war Joe escaped conscription, being born an American. When war was over, as strike after
strike were choking the Italian economy, unemployment was at a very high l=
evel
and the Fascist revolution under way. In every household the conversation =
piece
being discussed mostly was : Will He, Mussolini, this journalist from
Predappio, be able to give with his leadership stability to the Country and
peace of mind to the people wearied by such a long and bloody war?
Joe alw=
ays kept up
with the news, often walking miles to the nearest place where he could buy=
a
newspaper. He felt unable to join in the acceptance of the new party as the
saviour of the people, the party that would solve the problem of law and o=
rder,
that would redistribute the land, and, most of all, that would save the
frightened families from the menace of a possible advent of Communism. He witnessed a few cases in his s=
mall
environment, episodes that showed the tactics used by the
"squadristi", as the first batch of fascists were called. He cam=
e to
know of individuals having a moustache shaved off, as by joke, of others h=
aving
to take a forced drink of castor oil, of having their hats knocked off wit=
h a
slap, all ways of ridiculing people who were not ready to join the ranks o=
f the
new regime.
Some de=
plorable
episodes happened, as when a young girl, the daughter of a level crossing
keeper, that Joe knew well, was blinded by a "squadrista", just
showing off his arrogance, and his position above the law.
"I=
can shoot
you" he had shouted, and so he did, in the eyes. He was not punished in any way, b=
oasting
the fascist slogan: "Me=
ne
frego", I don't give a damn.
Where w=
as the
freedom, where the life without fear he had left behind? Joe was not one f=
or
saying aloud his thoughts, he soon realised the best policy was to keep his
judgement of the current events to himself. He knew of some persons, quite ordinary fo=
lk, who
were kept always under surveillance by the fascists because they had never
joined the party. Some could=
not
take it any longer and emigrated.
The ones left, whenever there was a visit into town of some V. I. P.
were to be rounded up a couple of days ahead and kept in jail as long as t=
he
authority found it necessary. To their friends and families they would say=
they
were going on a special holiday and only very few close people knew the ex=
act
nature of it. It would have been a disgrace for a child to be known at sch=
ool
as the son or daughter of such a father.&=
nbsp;
Often non fascist parents urged their children to conform in order =
not
to jeopardise their future careers.
In this unsettled atmosphere of post war Italy, Joe considered going
back to the States where he knew he could=
make a good living.
America=
was a
country of a dream imagined by Joe who was longing for more stability,
opportunity, better living conditions. It would mean abandoning his mother and sisters=
who
still needed his support. Before making a move he had to settle his mother=
's
affairs so that his presence in the village would not be required. He
decided the land should be worked by a "mezzadro&quo=
t;, a
farm worker with a family, who would
live on the spot. So,=
with
his mother's approval, the family modernised an old mill, not in use, which
belonged to them, situated a few
miles away from the village where they decided to move.
Virgini=
a was glad
to leave the old farmhouse, =
which
she had never liked, because it was too near to the mountain which project=
ed
its shadow over it so early in the afternoon, making the rooms dark and so=
cold
in Winter. The "mezzadro" would live in the old house, work the
fields, raise cattle, look after everything concerning the farm in general=
and
the produce would be divided in half.&nbs=
p;
All the=
isolated
farms were looked after by families of "mezzadri", as they belon=
ged
to some landowners. "Mezzadria", which had been practised since =
the
beginning of the 18th Century, was a contract of work by which the proprie=
tor
of a "fundus", gave the use of a house to the family of the so c=
alled
"contadino", for as long as they worked the land. Often near the=
farm
there was the "padrone's "summer house where he came to spend so=
me
weeks every year with his family.
Usually=
in the
villages the people were owners of their smallholdings, so it was quite a =
new
thing for Montello to accept in its bosom the family of a mezzadro. Joe was
going to be a very good "padrone", with none of the requests that
other landowner would expect, like to be always ready to serve in the house
when the proprietor was in residence . Virginia was not used to be attended
upon and dismissed this possibility straight away.
Any tim=
e a
landowner was dissatisfied with his mezzadro, or vice versa, notice could =
be
given by the end of August, after the harvest, and a new mezzadro would be
found to move in by the next January. Agricultural experts of the Region,
appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture, had the task of assessing the va=
lue
of the crops, of the cattle raised, of everything the farmer had worked fo=
r and
divide what went to either party. This system was one of the factors that
weighed on some of the country children's' education, because they usually
lived in farms far away from the school, they moved to different farms year
after year and also because every hand was needed for the smooth running o=
f the
farm. Young children were al=
ways
the shepherds of the family. It was a great disaster if a flock of sheep
strayed into a field of clover which made their bellies swell up until dea=
th.
It was =
very
enlightening for Joe to get to know all about running a farm and by the ti=
me he
decided to try his luck for a job in Rome, he felt quite confident that th=
ings
would run smoothly for his mother and sisters.
When th=
e American
President Woodrow Wilson declared: "It will be our duty to assist by
material aid post war Europe", Joe joined the American Red Cross in R=
ome
as an interpreter. He was excellent in his work and for a few years he car=
ried
on with this type of work. S=
oon he
was spotted by an American Red Cross Captain who, in civilian life, was a buye=
r for
the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. He had been impressed by Joe's
skill and also by his knowledge and regarded him as an invaluable help in =
his
quest for works of art for the Museum.&nb=
sp;
Joe could not believe his good luck. Mr. Mason, the American gentle=
man,
enquired about his family, his commitments, as Joe would have to do a lot =
of
travelling. Joe was free as the wind, he would travel to the end of the wo=
rld.
Mr. Mas=
on engaged
him and told him he could stay with his family in Montello, from where he =
would
summon him whenever he required his services as he would be travelling to =
and
from New York from time to time. Joe did not have to worry about money, he=
would
be on Mr. Mason's payroll all the time. Apart from Joe's bilingual abilities, h=
e had
been impressed by Joe's knowledge of art and of the Museums of New York.
Before =
going back
home, Joe was taken by Errol, as they were on first name terms now, to the
American Embassy and introduced to the Ambassador, who was a personal frie=
nd.
He had the first taste of the luxuries he would soon get accustomed to dur=
ing
his spells with Errol. He went back to Montello with a new wardrobe, in a =
new
leather suitcase that replaced the battered fibre specimen he had left with=
,
the legacy from his journey from America. He was now looking forward to hi=
s new
job, fascinated by the art world which he never thought he would have a ch=
ance
to discover again. He was determined to make a success of his appointment.=
Errol was going back to New York =
for
some months, so he thought the best way to spend his time while Erroll was=
away
in the States, would be to remove any deficiency that might occur in his
Italian.
He spoke
perfectly, without any accent whatsoever, but in the written language he d=
id
not feel as confident as in English, having never been to a proper Italian
school. His teachers had been the Italian priests, first in Central City, =
then
in New York. He would do som=
ething
about polishing up his Italian writing, those double consonants that often
baffled him. . . . How could he go about it? where could he go for a few
lessons?
"W=
hy not try
the teacher, who lives in th=
e new
school house just outside the village", his mother suggested. . . . .=
.
PHOTOGRAPH
VIEW OF TOWN SQUARE
CHAPTER &=
nbsp;
7
&nb=
sp;
Italy, 1920-1927.
&=
nbsp;
=
Giovann=
a had grown
into a good looking young lady. Tall, with a pale complexion, while her si=
sters
were dark, with an olive skin tan.
She looked very much like her mother, with very dark brown eyes, da=
rk
brown hair, long, as in the fashion of the time. She tied it with a velvet ribbon,=
or
pulled it back woven into plaits. Like all young girls, she loved to chang=
e her
looks with her mood, so she would tie her plaits with a bow, or wound them=
into
a coil above her ears. Skirts were long, tunics over the skirts were loose,
hiding any curve or bulge, making a straight line from the top to the hem,=
just
above the knee. There was hardly any part of the legs to be seen, even the=
calf
was mysteriously well hidden by the tall, buttoned up shoes.
=
Newly q=
ualified
teachers were invariably given posts in the worst places, situated in moun=
tain
villages, served by rough roads with almost non existent public transport.=
Giovanna, for her first post had =
been assigned
to a small village of 150 inhabitants, Poggio, situated at about 9Km. from the town of
Valledoro, where her sister Ada had moved. As it was a newly created rural
school, there was no school building as such. The education authority rent=
ed a
couple of rooms in a private house, which, with the communicating wall kno=
cked
down, made the classroom. The teacher's&n=
bsp;
accommodation, a bedroom and a kitchen, was on the first floor, nex=
t to
the classroom, as the house had stables on the ground level. So there was a flight of stairs, =
at the
top of which, a toilet had been built, for the use of the teacher and the
children.
=
It goes=
without
saying that the nights spent away from home were very hard for Giovanna.
Sometimes one or two girls c=
ame to
spend a few hours of the evening to keep her company, bringing with them
something to do, like knitting, winding skeins of wool into balls, and in =
these
occasions Giovanna got to know the news of the community, the gossip. In
Winter, when it was dark very early, she often sat alone reading a book by the l=
ight of
a candle or the oil lamp, while the wind whistled down the chimney, blowing
gusts of smoke into the kitchen and noises unfamiliar to her ears, of animals and human=
s, made
her shiver even after she was tucked into her bed, praying God that she sh=
ould
sleep undisturbed all night until the first light of dawn came to relieve =
her
of the nightmares.
=
One nig=
ht she
could not go to sleep, she lay awake with thousands of thoughts running th=
rough
her head, planning the examination day, which was approaching, and the
inspector's visit that was due tomorrow. He would sit in and listen while =
she
judged the children's' progress during the school year. His report to the
Provincial Authority was very important to Giovanna, as she was still on
probation. So, praying that everything should go well, she finally blew her
candle out as she felt drowsy and soon&nb=
sp;
was sound asleep.
Only a =
short time
had passed when she jumped, sitting up, her heart pounding madly. What was=
that
noise? She had distinctly heard someone creeping through the tall grass, o=
n the
bank just outside her window. She
managed to find the matches to light her candle, while hoping she had been
dreaming, but. . no, soon she heard more footsteps that were getting close=
r.
She knew her window was so near the bank, anybody could have climbed into =
her
room.
She tri=
ed to call
out, but no voice came from her dry throat, and 'who would hear her?' she
thought in terror. On one side the nearest building was the church, on the
other side there were only fields, the nearest houses were across the road=
and
nobody would have heard a shout from her room which was at the back.
Before =
she could
collect her thoughts, deciding to
run for her life, there was a great crash against the shutters of her wind=
ow as
a shot was fired . She jumped out of bed, while another shot, followed by =
a loud
cry, like that of a wounded wild animal, resounded in her head. Terrified, she crouched down, the=
n she
heard people calling her while banging at her door.
Thank G=
od,
somebody had heard and was coming to her rescue, she flew down the stairs =
to
open the door to some men and women who had heard the shots.
The nex=
t morning,
all the village was disturbed by what had happened. Giovanna was strangely=
cool
and calm.
Soon th=
e villagers
found the culprit responsibl=
e for
the disturbances. He was a y=
oung
man, who obviously resented the teacher as a "lady from the city"=
; and
had decided to give her a fright, just for a joke. He was reprimanded, but, thanks to
Giovanna's good heart, he was not prosecuted.
The ins=
pector
turned out to be a tall, good looking, middle aged man, with a moustache a=
nd
greying hair at the temple, impressive and severe to look at although on h=
is
arrival he was hardly noticed as he dismounted his bike, paused to regain =
his
breath and to wipe his brow after the long trek from town. He composed himself, parked his b=
ike and
proceeded to enter the school premises, taking off his trilby hat as he
introduced himself to the teacher. Giovanna managed to welcome him with a
smile, offering him a drink and a chair to take a few minutes rest.
He gave=
Giovanna a
feeling of fear and admiration: fear of having to be judged by such an imp=
osing
man, admiration because in her mind he must have been a font of knowledge,=
the
one who should know everything.
Inspect=
or Rossi
was very much impressed by Giovanna's courage in living on her own and adm=
ired
her for the way she had taken the incident he had just been informed of. T=
hat
meant a very good mark for her year of probation! And the young man, Armando, consi=
dered a
bit wild by the rest of the people, was put to shame by the events and never gave any trouble again. =
;
Giovann=
a's best
friend, Irene, was teaching in the next village, but this did not mean that
they could see each other often, because of the lack of communication betw=
een
the two schools. They usuall=
y met
at holiday time, on Sundays, when Giovanna went back to her sister's home =
and
Irene went to her parents.
Sometim=
es Giovanna
went to spend the weekend at Irene's home. Irene had three older brothers =
who
very much approved of their sister's friendship with such good looking gir=
l.
They too, enjoyed her company, each of them trying to be the one to be cho=
sen
to chaperon the girls and to escort them on their outings.
Unfortu=
nately the
brothers were all engine drivers on the railway and had such odd working h=
ours,
that often they did not even get to see Giovanna at all when she came.
This was the subject for tea=
sing
her brothers that Irene enjoyed very much.
Life in=
the
village was hard but Giovanna was lucky to have her mother who occasionally
joined her to keep her company during some of the long Winter evenings. To=
be
able to do so, Signora Anna had to rely on the kindness of one of the fath=
ers
of the pupils, who owned a horse and cart and volunteered to pick her up f=
rom
the point at about 3 Km. from the village where the country lane met the
provincial road along which the bus ran once a day. Usually Giovanna had to
walk this last stretch, as did Irene. After they had travelled together so=
far
in the bus, one went South West and the other North West, to get to their
places of work. Often Giovan=
na was
on her own, but she found that people were very kind to her and she tried =
hard
not to let her mother follow her too often as the accommodation was so
primitive, the house so cold, draughty and she feared for her health.
After t=
he very
frightening encounter of the man with the shotgun, a girl from the family
living opposite the school, offered to go to sleep in the same room, to ma=
ke
Giovanna feel more secure.
At the =
beginning
of July, Giovanna packed her bags and closed the school house for the Summ=
er
holiday. The lessons finished on June 15th, but then she had a few chores =
to
take care of, the register to be filled in, the "cronaca", the d=
aily
diary with all the news rela=
ted to
the events occurring during the school year. Also she liked to leave the place all =
ready
for the next term and she quite enjoyed to stay in Poggio for a couple of =
weeks
during the Summer when her mother also&nb=
sp;
came to breathe some fresh country air.
On her =
second year
in Poggio, some persistent gossip kept reaching her ears: it was about a y=
oung
girl called Vittoria Mancini. She lived with her widowed mother in the hea=
rt of
the village. She was very beautiful, only about 18 years old, with black h=
air
tied in a knot at the nape of her neck, dark eyes, a smooth complexion, not
spoiled by exposure to the sun and all weathers as the other girls used to=
be
out in the open air most of the days.&nbs=
p;
Vittoria and her mother did not possess any land, but lived on the
mother's pension from the father who had been a postman. They had come to live in Poggio i=
n a
house that had belonged to Vittoria's grandmother. She had a figure that m=
ade
every male turn around for an extra look, when they met her.
Now the=
gossip was
that a certain young man was visiting the widow's house more often than ju=
st an
ordinary neighbour and friend would. Giovanna did not take much notice of =
all
the other girls told her, sometimes it could be envy, that made them talk,=
but
this time, in the Autumn and then in the Winter, the same gossip were on
everybody's lips.
The wor=
st and very
sad episode that Giovanna ha=
d of
her life in Poggio, the memory of which stayed with her for a very long ti=
me,
happened one Winter's morning.
The sun=
was
shining, while a gentle westerly wind melted the last few patches of snow on the road, left by the =
rough
home made snowplough that the villagers had used. The fields and the mountains were=
still
all white, covered by layers of snow, in part some metres high, drifted by=
the
icy winds that had blown during the last few days, during severe snowstorm=
s.
While Giovanna was teaching, she heard the sound of a car approaching .
In a vi=
llage where
nothing exciting usually happened, such a sight brought worries about impe=
nding
disasters and Giovanna felt trembling as she saw the men coming towards the
school entrance and entering the door.
They we=
re very
courteous, Giovanna left the children working and received them in the kit=
chen
where they could talk undisturbed. They wanted to make some enquires about=
a
girl called Vittoria Mancini. Did Giovanna know her? Did she know she was
thought to have been pregnant? And had she had the baby? All questions on =
which
Giovanna could not shed any light at all.=
She knew Vittoria, of course, and her mother, but apart from meeting
them occasionally outside by chance, she knew nothing about them.
They se=
emed to be
respectable, kind and friendly, that's all. Naturally Giovanna did not talk
about the gossip that had been circulating . . . that some months earlier
Vittoria was supposed to have morning sickness and that tongues had been w=
aggling
about Vittoria's behaviour. She had no idea what the lawmen were driving a=
t, so
she kept quiet. What could Vittoria have done? The carabinieri left the sc=
hool
and Giovanna saw them go first into the parsonage, then into the house whe=
re
Vittoria lived with her widowed mother Marianna. They were there for a long
time, giving way to all sorts of speculations about their visit.
When th=
ey went,
neither Vittoria nor her mother appeared, to quell the curiosity of the
bystanders, so people went back to their houses, trying to speculate on all
sorts of possibilities that had brought the guardians of the law to a peac=
eful
place like Poggio. The same afternoon the carabinieri were back, with a se=
arch
warrant.
Out cam=
e all the
village to watch, but by now some had got wise to the fact that it all must
stem from Vittoria's alleged pregnancy . If at times she had looked a bit
different, plumper, now she looked more normal, but any body's wildest dre=
ams
could not have forecasted the macabre ending to the episode. Neighbours were interrogated. Vit=
toria
had been pregnant, but what had happened to the baby? Her mother kept cryi=
ng,
protesting that they were all fabricated accusations.
The hou=
se was
searched, then the surrounding areas, finally they found what they had been
looking for.
The cor=
pse of a
baby boy, wrapped in a white shawl, was discovered under some bushes at the
back of the house, partly covered by snow, death having been caused by his
umbilical cord having been left untied. Although he had been dead for some
days, the little body had been preserved by the below zero temperature and
looked just as if he was asleep.
How had=
the
carabinieri found out? Who had been the spy from the village? Her alleged =
lover
was suspected of having given her away, although it was established that t=
here
was no accomplice in her crime, even her mother who was at first under
suspicion, was later cleared. Vittoria was led out of the house, between t=
wo
carabinieri and driven away to prison. Everybody, including the teacher an=
d the
priest was stunned and horrified by the events.
The vil=
lagers were
very hard in judging Vittoria and blamed her mother for having not
"watched" her. Of the baby, in a very callous way, they remarked:
"He would have been a bastard, so he is better off dead". Nobody
showed any pity for the girl. She was tried and convicted of
"infanticidio", the murder of an infant, and sentenced to life
imprisonment. As matter of fact, during the second world war, she was rele=
ased,
after serving twenty two years of her sentence, for good behaviour. She was just fort=
y years
old, managed to pick up the pieces of her life, married and lived an exemp=
lary
life.
Vittori=
a's episode
shook Giovanna as she tried to console the old mother, Marianna. She never forgave her daughter, e=
ven
when Giovanna tried to make her see that, had she been a better friend to
Vittoria, things might have been different. Who could understand the agony Vi=
ttoria
must have gone through when she found out she was pregnant? Who would have
helped her? She must have been too ashamed to confess her state to anybody,
especially to her mother who would
have thrown her out of the h=
ouse,
what then would have happened to her and her baby? Nobody knew what went o=
n in
Vittoria's mind, for she never answered any questions during her trial, no=
r did
she reveal the name of the baby's father.
She too=
k her
punishment as if she was glad it was all over, all in the open, looking aw=
ay
from the faces of the people who crowded the court. For them it was a day =
of
excitement, which they enjoyed as an unexpected holiday, travelling for the
trial to the town capital of the province, where very few of them had ever=
been
.
After f=
our years
spent as teacher in this God forsaken place, Giovanna had the chance to ap=
ply
to be transferred to another school. She was seen as a deserving case by t=
he
Authority, because of the elderly mother who was to live with her, so she =
was
lucky to be given a post in another village, only a few Km. away from the =
first
one, on the same line along the foot of the Appennines.
Montell=
o was one
of the first places where the fascist Regime had created new schools. A new building had b=
een
erected on a plot of land at the entrance to the village, and this was to =
be
Giovanna's new home.
The pla=
ce was
everything she could have wished for, comfortable, spacious, new, in a very
good position, from which she could see the hills, the mountains, the fiel=
ds
for miles around, and, the most important thing, she could have her mother
living with her. Often her s=
ister
from the town came to spend weekends in the country.
The vil=
lagers were
very kind and very curious of the new residents, They all, with one excuse=
or
another, came to meet Giovanna and her mother, bringing new laid eggs, che=
ese,
fruit and vegetables, just to welcome them. This touched Giovanna's heart, sh=
e was
not used to such kindness, and she thanked them the best way she could, by
being friendly and by putting herself down to their level, by making them =
feel
there was no difference between an educated person like the teacher and the
peasants. She wanted them to know she was one of them and she belonged to =
the
village.
The fir=
st year
went by without anything exciting happening. The school year ended on June 15t=
h, but
Giovanna had planned to stay until the end of the month before going to sp=
end
the Summer at her sister's home in Valledoro. On June 23rd, following a
centuries old tradition, the girls of Montello, as of all the other villag=
es,
went out to gather wild flowers and herbs, any sort of leaves with a pleas=
ant
aroma, in particular walnut leaves and yellow broom flowers,
"ginestra" blossom.
A super=
stitious
belief says that many strange things happen on the night of St.John. The
flowers and herbs are placed in a trough, covered with water and left all =
night
in the open, under a cloudless sky, when the spirit of the Saint will perv=
ade
the nightly air and turn it into holy water, which will have the power of
strengthening body and spirit. In the morning that water will be used to w=
ash
babies and every member of the family will have a share to freshen their f=
aces
and limbs.
The gir=
ls,
carrying large baskets, thought it would be polite to ask the young teache=
r to
join them. Giovanna readily accepted the invitation which would give her a
chance of getting to know better the people of Montello. She picked up a basket and all to=
gether
they went along the road towards a small hill, where the broom plants were
growing in great number. On the way, they picked any flower they found, wh=
ile
gossiping, chatting, giggling, laughing, looking forward to a grand day, t=
he
next day, the festival of St. John,
a holiday for everybody. May=
be they
would meet a handsome stranger or maybe it would be still years before the=
y met
the right man.
Why not=
ask the
cuckoo? So, after singing a silly rhyme , they waited for the cuckoo to gi=
ve
them the answer: every cuckoo the bird sang, meant one year of waiting!
Giovanna never had such fun, she was enjoying herself very much.
"P=
erhaps we
should come out at
"G=
ood girls
are in their beds at
Giovann=
a was
fascinated by all these superstitions;&nb=
sp;
"You must not let the witches enter your home" "Only=
an
upturned broom outside your =
front
door will save you", they declared, firmly believing in what the old
crones of the village had been postulating from generation to generation. =
Talking=
about all
this nonsense and thinking of tomorrow, they were looking forward to go to
church in their best clothes, to the special lunch which would follow, some
home made tagliatelle, followed by roast cockerels from the brood of the s=
pring
chickens, sacrificed in
The eve=
ning would
end with the usual "quattro salti". literally four jumps, in the=
open
air, on the largest "aia" of the village, the paved yard where t=
he
grain is threshed. The dance=
would be
accompanied by the sound of Peppino's "fisarmonica", (accordion)=
, one
eyed Peppino, as everybody called him. He had lost the sight of one eye wh=
en he
was very young, by the hand of a boy of the same age who accidentally hit =
him
with a stone. He knew no music, only one or two tunes, which he played at
different speeds, so whether you danced a fox trot, a waltz, a polka or a
tango, the tune was always the same. He was the only young man who never
danced, not only because there was nobody else who could play in his place=
, but
because the girls shunned him. They did not like his way of turning his he=
ad
sideways when he talked to them.
The poo=
r chap
could not do otherwise, in order to see the person he was talking to. This=
had
given him an inferiority complex which he had overcome when, scraping and
saving selling wild vegetables and fruit at the market in town, he had bec=
ome
the proud owner of a "fisarmonica", not any fisarmonica, but one=
of
the best, from the Soprani factory of Castelfidardo, the wizard of fisarmo=
nica
makers. Now the girls smiled at him, always trying to be friendly: it would
have been a calamity had he not made himself available when they wanted to
dance, which was the only way and occasion approved by the families for th=
em to
be in the arms of their heart throbs, without gossip and thoughts of malic=
e.
Peppino was asked to all the parties and all the weddings .
He soon=
graduated
to the payment of a small fee, which usually came from the men's pockets. =
He
became known in the neighbouring villages where often his musical skill was
required. Outside his village he was referred to as "the musician&quo=
t;,
while still a few called him in a friendly, joking way "cecalupo"=
;,
blind wolf.
=
Giovann=
a enjoyed
the confidence of the girls, as more and more she realised the deep differ=
ence
from her own upbringing and these girls' life and aspirations. They had no=
thing
to look forward to except a very hard working life, a marriage usually in =
the same
village, many children to bring up. Still, they were contented, looking fo=
rward
to meeting the man who would become their husband and take them to live in=
his
home, together with his mother, father, sisters and brothers and their fam=
ilies
if they were married. Sudden=
ly
Giovanna was brought back to reality from her thoughts, by a shout from on=
e of
the girls:
"W=
e have no
walnut leaves". She was right, they were almost forgetting one of the=
most
wanted ingredients to their mixture of aromas. The nearest walnut tree was=
at
"The mill", only a few minutes away.
"L=
et's have a
race there", one suggested. "See who will be first to sit under the tree"=
.
With th=
at they
were off, racing along like young foals, but not too fast, as the baskets =
they
carried were heavy. It was Antonia to get there first. She slumped in the shade o=
f the
centuries old tree, by the mill pond, soon followed by the rest of the gro=
up,
all panting and laughing. Giovanna was the last. She was not trained to ca=
rry
weights or to compete in cross country races!
"W=
ouldn't it
be nice to wash our feet in this lovely pond?" one of them suggested,=
but
a flock of squawking ducks darted by, clouding the water which suddenly di=
d not
look at all desirable any more. They decided to have just a cool drink fro=
m the
fountain, after they had picked enough leaves from the tree.
The big=
house by
the water was a mill no more, but it still had the pond and the great wheel
that had been used to grind wheat. Giovanna had heard that the American fa=
mily
lived there, but she had not met any of them. The girls started talking about t=
hem,
about the son who had gone to
Giovann=
a smiled,
listened, but said nothing. She had some experiences of "
The sou=
nd of
voices and laughter from the girls brought
"I=
am so
looking forward to see him again, he has a new job and I am so pleased. I
always feared he might go back to
The nex=
t day, when
Mass was over, all the people gathered on the square, greeting friends, ca=
lling
each other, catching up with family news. Farmers from isolated far away f=
arms,
had walked miles to be there, while the better off had arrived in their ho=
rse
drawn buggies. When Giovanna=
and
her mother walked out of church,
"H=
ere is my
Joe".
Giovann=
a was
pleasantly surprised to meet the very well mannered, well spoken young man=
. He
was dressed like a person from the city, raised his hat and shook hands wi=
th
her and her mother, looking straight into their eyes. He had eyes of an incredible blue=
, the
colour of the sky on a Summe=
r's
day, a charming smile, and the first impression he gave of himself was
gentleness, coupled with great physical strength. He towered above Giovann=
a and
she had to look up to him while they exchanged conventional greetings, bef=
ore
Giovanna and her mother started walking towards the school house.
People =
were all
trying to talk to Joe, they were so proud of him, it was a credit to the
community to have "the American", amongst them. Joe had thought of asking the pri=
est to
give him some lessons but he seemed to be very busy when Joe had approache=
d the
subject. The truth being that
Don Basilio did not feel very
confident in the role of a teacher, so one afternoon, following his mother's advice and=
taking
his courage in both hands, Joe walked towards the school house. Giovanna w=
as
outside, picking some herbs to use in cooking the evening meal, when she s=
aw
him and recognised the young man she had met on
She fel=
t blushing,
while he heart gave a quick thump. What could he be here for? When he politely asked if he coul=
d talk
to her, she asked him in the room where her mother was sitting, busy with =
her
knitting. Signora Anna looked puzzled: Who was he? Oh, yes, she had met him
before, but what could he possibly want? She welcomed him in, as Giovanna
explained he wanted to talk to her. She was not going to leave her daughter
alone with any stranger, so she waited to hear what he had to say, stopped
knitting and wrapped her shawl tight around her shoulders. Soon her curios=
ity
was satisfied. When Joe had explained what he wanted, Giovanna felt she co=
uld
help this young man, in making a success of his job, but before accepting =
to
give him lessons, she looked at her mother waiting for a sign of approval.=
To
her surprise, it was the mother who spoke even before she had the chance of
saying anything. "Of course, I am sure my daughter will help you with=
your
Italian" came the answer, that astonished Giovanna.
There w=
as
something that made her mother trust Joe, his open face and smile, she
thought. She knew better than
anybody else what a person can go through in a strange country, how much o=
ne
can long for a helping hand in the very difficult process of settling down=
in a
new place. For a moment her thoughts took her back to that desolate town i=
n
In the =
Autumn he
started to frequent the school house once a week, but sometimes he got an =
extra
lesson on a Thursday morning, if Giovanna=
was not busy, either shopping or if she had no visitors. Joe proved=
to be
a very studious pupil, learning fast and it did not take him long to fill =
the
few gaps and to write perfect
Italian, although even with Giovanna's help he still found some difficulty=
in
mastering those elusive double consonants!
He was =
always so
polite and full of attention towards Giovanna and her mother, soon he was
regarded as a real friend, and kept up his visits to the school house even
after he stopped learning. H=
e made
very interesting company, he had many tales to tell about
The mot=
her had
realised from the beginning that a mutual attraction was developing betwee=
n Joe
and Giovanna. Their friendship had blossomed into a much deeper feeling, a=
love
which they could hardly hide from the mother intuition.
She nev=
er relaxed
her role of guardian, and a very stern guardian she was. The most that Joe=
and
Giovanna, longing to fall in each other's arms, could achieve, was a furti=
ve
kiss in mother's absence during the very short coffee making sessions.
Like in=
the famous
episode of Francesca da Rimini, from the Divina Commedia, in Dante' own wo=
rds,
"Galeotto fu il libro. . . .", ruffian, rogue was the book. . . =
. . .
. that made Francesca and Paolo fall in love while reading it. In this case the book which
brought them together was nothing more exciting than the Italian grammar, =
which
they came to regard as the mascot of their life.
When Jo=
e went away
on a long trip with Mr. Mason, the postman was kept very busy. During this=
time
Joe's writing improved very much indeed. By the time he came back everybod=
y in
the village knew he must have a soft spot for the teacher: Pallino, the po=
stman
had managed to divulge to the four winds the news that letters with the sa=
me
postmark and handwriting that Virginia got from her son, were arriving at =
the
school house too, in fact much more often than to his mother.
=
The las=
t letter,
before Joe's return, was addressed to Signora Anna, and a very important l=
etter
that was. He was asking her to give her consent for him to marry Giovanna.=
They be=
came
engaged, also with Errol's blessing, and they married in the Summer of 192=
6.
The ceremony took place in
Valledoro, the town where Giovanna's sister
CHAPTER &=
nbsp;
8
Life in the schoolhouse
The sch=
ool house
was the biggest and most imposing building of Montello, situated just outs=
ide
the village, with a large drive and plenty of space around it, that the sc=
hool
children used as a playground.
Although not fenced off from other land, the space was quite safe f=
or
the children to stay there unsupervised, as the only traffic nearby could =
have
been a stray cow or sheep and those children knew very well how to cope wi=
th
such emergencies.
At lunc=
h time the
teacher retreated to the part of the building which was her home, while so=
me of
the children went back to their families for lunch. As matter of fact, mos=
t of
the pupils should have gone back home and come to school again in the afte=
rnoon
for two more hours. Many preferred to stay at school because their mothers=
were
working in the fields, others had to stay because they came from farms far=
away
and had to walk about 2 or 3 miles each way to school. For them it would h=
ave
been impossible to go home in the middle of the day, trudging through the
fields and rough country lanes.
They al=
l wore
tough boots, too big for their small feet, coats handed down from the olde=
r brothers
or sisters, that had seen many generations. In Winter they wore a large sc=
arf
wrapped around their head, long enough to be used also as gloves, the end =
bits
twisted around the little fingers, which were full of chilblains.
The lit=
tle group
that most touched Joe's feelings, was the one of two boys and two girls,
belonging to the Antonioni families.
These families lived in two adjacent farms, which belonged to a wea=
lthy
landowner. The farms were very remote and isolated and the children, whose=
ages
were between six and nine, had to walk for about 3 miles each way to schoo=
l. In
the Winter the families would be cut off by the snow so they always kept a=
good
stock of grain, flour, salt. Salt was indispensable to keep and cure home
killed meat and so to survive the freeze.=
"Casalario" and "Casalvento" were the names of =
the
farms. Three brothers worked the fields sharing everything, obviously after
every crop had been shared with the "padrone". They all had wive=
s and
large families.
Tragedy=
had struck
suddenly the happy community one day when a very rare and deadly virus fir=
st
hit the wife of the eldest brother who died in a few days. Then the husband was killed by th=
e same disease, so in a very short time,=
there
were four orphans left. It was a heartbreaking event. Something had to be =
done
to save the children from being evicted&n=
bsp;
by the landowner. Joe and Giovanna called in their friend Francesco=
, who
was Irene's husband and an agricultural expert. As the law stood, the land=
owner
could ask for the children to be removed from the farm as they were not of
working age and, in his view, just four more
mouths to feed at his expenses. The only solution, which came with Frances=
co's
advice, was for the younger of the two uncles to adopt the orphans as his =
own
children, an event that brought relief to all the villagers concerned for =
their
fate.
The chi=
ldren of
school age from this family came to school all together and hardly ever mi=
ssed
a day, except when the weather was too severe. They used to bring to school
their lunch in a bag made from sack cloth, slung across their shoulders, a=
home
made sort of satchel. Their lunch invariably consisted of a large hunk of
bread, a half loaf per child, most of the times stale, a piece of cheese o=
r an
apple when they were in season, or a slice of salame, half a sausage, or e=
ven a
large walnut, already cracked. Sometimes Joe used to watch them as they op=
ened
their bundle and started to eat mouthfuls of bread, being very careful to =
bite
a very small quantity of whatever they had as its "accompaniment"=
;. It
looked sometimes as they just liked to get only a little of the flavour an=
d in
the meantime they would finish the bread and still have a piece of the rest
left. Then, with a broad smile, they were ready to savour their
"dessert" and enjoy slowly the nut or whatever was left, on its
own.
That sm=
all portion
of walnut must have tasted like the most luxurious food tastes to the
sophisticated palates of the very rich. Yet, the pleasure that pervaded the
small faces as they savoured it, gave them the look of someone feeling lik=
e a
million dollars.
Even on=
their
meagre diet, those children looked the picture of health, with pink cheeks,
bright eyes, shining hair. They were always clean, well scrubbed and in the
late Spring their hair was usually shaved, to give it a chance to get curl=
y,
the parents would tell the children, the true reason being that it was eas=
ier
to keep them clean giving no chance to lice to get a hold.
"P=
oor
mites", used to comment Joe, looking with sadness in his eyes at these
creatures, and there was not a day when he would not make sure that the fi=
re in
the classroom was well stocked during the lunch break. Very often he took
something from the kitchen, under Ida's, the maid, reproachful eye, to add=
to
the children's meal.
"T=
here is no
need to be soft with them", Ida would scorn, "You spoil them, th=
at is
what they are used to in their home. "
The sch=
ool
building was outside the cluster of houses that made up the village. It st=
ood
on raised ground, on a side turning just off the main road that led to the
first houses. It was a real showplace, compared to any other school in any
village of the district. On the ground floor there was the hall, with the
kitchen on the left, while on the right there was a dining-sitting room wi=
th a
communicating door to the school hall, to the children's entrance and to t=
he
classroom and cloakrooms. Th=
ere was
even a great "palestra", a gym, for physical education . All the
rooms were spacious, airy and well lit. The house had a large staircase th=
at
led to three bedrooms upstairs. There were
separate entrances for the school and for the teacher's quarters. B=
eing
the only school for many miles around, children of all ages were taught in=
the
same room at the same time by the same teacher. It would have been a chaot=
ic
situation with a large number of children. As it was, they were divided in
three classes and the number varied between 20 and 26 pupils in all.
The cla=
sses would
work at different subjects at the same time, but everything worked in harm=
ony
and things flowed very smoothly. Discipline was very strict in those days,=
but
nobody seemed to suffer for it.
There were no toys, no apparatus whatsoever to make teaching a ligh=
ter
task. Teacher's tools were just the blackboard, reading book, pencil, ink,=
pen,
and writing book. The only concession to help some hard at learning the ba=
sic
skills of counting, was a handful of maize seeds to be used as counters, b=
ut
you had to be careful not to incur
the teacher's displeasure or she would use the maize as tools for
punishment by making you kne=
el on
them for a few minutes, to sharpen your wits!
There w=
as no waste
of material, no rough pieces of paper that you could play with and dispose=
of
at your leisure. Paper had t=
o be
accounted for. The teacher had to buy her own paper and the families who c=
ould
afford it had to provide the books and writing equipment for their childre=
n,
while the very numerous and less prosperous families got the bare necessit=
ies
from the "Patronato scolastico", which was a branch of the fasci=
st
party that cared for the welfare of school children.
This or=
ganisation
also played "Santa Claus", or the "Befana Fascista" to
these children on the Befana Day, January 6th. A couple of
"gerarchi", fascists with some post of responsibility in the
hierarchy of the party, in their uniform, often husband and wife, would
distribute the presents to the children of the poorest families and have a
party for them in a public place, most of the times in a school hall.
In a vi=
llage the
teacher performed such a duty, in rare occasions another member of the par=
ty
would come to do the honour, clad in the fascist "orbace", thus
lifting the occasion to a sort of village celebration. Orbace was the mate=
rial
fascist uniforms were made of, a thick black hairy rough stuff woven by
Sardinian peasants from the wool of their goats. To say someone wore
"orbace", it meant he wore the fascist uniform.
In the =
classrooms,
in all Italian schools, on the wall behind the teacher's table, hung the
portraits of the King Victor Emanuel The Third, of Queen Elena, of Mussoli=
ni in
Fascist uniform, while in the middle, above the other frames, a wooden cru=
cifix
was to remind of the papal influence in the country's affairs, in the shap=
e of
the Catholic church. On another wall a large map of
One of =
the few
good things that fascism did for Not much
schooling, one can say, and there was always the case that a child would
frequent the school for the minimum 3 years prescribed by the law without
having mastered the art of reading and writing. They could stay an extra y=
ear,
but many parents, who needed more working hands in the fields, would not a=
llow
them to stay any longer. "I=
never went
to school and I do not regret it" would boast some obstinate, selfish
character, when asked by the teacher to let a child stay some extra time,
proudly showing off his ignorance when his signature was needed, by making=
a
cross instead of his name. The qua=
lity of
teaching was remarkable, only in very rare cases a teacher was unable to m=
ake
the thickest wooden heads learn the basic skills. A teacher's duty extended
also to help the adults who could not write, to read their letters and to
provide an answer. Young girls came to Giovanna to be helped to answer let=
ters
from their suitors, often not because they could not write at all, but because they were unable to e=
xpress
their feelings in beautiful,
romantic phrases as the teacher could.&nb=
sp;
Giovann=
a enjoyed
this, but she had to change her tactics and stop conveying her own dreams =
in
her compositions, when she found to her dismay that a young man had fallen=
in
love with her letters and when he discovered that his girl was incapable of
writing them, he had broken off the engagement. Another=
episode
that shows the sad state of illiteracy of the population, was when a middle
aged woman, the wife of a level crossing keeper from the village nearest t=
o the
railway line, a friend of Joe, came to Giovanna to ask for help. She wante=
d to
share in her husband's job as he was not in very good health and eventuall=
y she
would take over from him. She knew how to place on the long pole the light=
to
signal to trains to stop, in the night, or to show the rolled up flag which
meant "all clear " in day time, but she needed to be able to rea=
d and
write, when it was necessary to send a message to the next level crossing
keeper. Needless to say she could do neither, so Giovanna started teaching=
her
as she was going to be called for a test. The cal=
l came
sooner than she expected. Letizia was asked to write a page of composition=
. She
started working and never lifted her head until her page was full of
writing. When the examiner w=
ent to
read it, he found that the lines said the same thing over and over again:
Letizia had filled her page with her signature, which was the only thing s=
he
could remember how to write: Meloni
Letizia, Meloni Letizia. . . . . . Fortunately the examiner was so touched=
by
her eagerness to get the job, that he passed her, knowing that there would=
be
somebody else in the family if she had to read a message to be relayed to =
other
level crossing keepers further along the line. Soon Gi=
ovanna was
expecting a baby which was born in April of the year after their wedding. =
It
was decided that two days be=
fore
the baby was due, a midwife from the town would come to stay in the house =
and
wait for the event. She was well known for her capability and everybody kn=
ew
that under Peppina's very expert hands&nbs=
p; there
was nothing to be feared, but just in case of need, Federico, the owner of=
a
horse and cart, was ready to go at very short notice, to fetch the general
practitioner from the village where he lived, a few miles away. The vil=
lage had a
sort of midwife, a middle aged woman called Assunta, capable, but being no=
t a
professional, did not inspire all the confidence that Joe and Giovanna
required. She was thought by some also to be a healer, who gave potions and stra=
nge
remedies for all sorts of ailments.
She used mostly herbs, some of which she grew in her garden. She had started going to help at =
births
after an encounter when she had found herself alone with a woman who was h=
aving
a baby and nobody was at home, in an isolated farmhouse. Since then she had
gained the confidence of the villagers who it found easier to call her rat=
her
than going miles away to find a professional midwife. She was also the one=
to
give injections to anybody who had them prescribed by the doctor, having
learned from a friend of hers who lived in another village. There w=
as still a
clairvoyant in the village, like in On the =
3rd of
April, Peppina came to check on Giovanna, brought by a taxi, carrying her =
bag
of instruments and objects for any eventuality. She knew as much as any do=
ctor,
if not more, about mothers, babies and births and she was confident everyt=
hing
would be fine. Things starte=
d on
the second day of Peppina's stay and ten hours later, Giovanna gave birth =
to a
daughter, while Joe, with Ida the maid,&n=
bsp;
was relegated to the kitchen. Signora Anna was present at the birth=
. Ida
seemed to enjoy the worried look in Joe's face, during the hours of labour=
and
to his questions, as Ida was carrying and fetching to and from the bedroom=
, she
invariably answered: "Tutto bene", all is well. She was very cal=
lous
about the whole thing, being the eldest of five children, she was very
knowledgeable on the subject, having being present when her last sister was
born, only a couple of years earlier. "M=
y mother
did not have even Assunta when her time came, because she was away, so, wh=
at
can possibly go wrong to Signora Giovanna, with Peppina present"? she=
kept
telling Joe. Peppina had all those implements, those rubber pumps,
thermometers, syringes, glass tubes and, most intriguing of all, that glass
container with a long tube at the end of which was a nozzle, like a small
tap. Ida could not make out =
what
possible use it could have. A suppl=
y teacher
was sent to take over the school duties for three months and she found lod=
gings
with the priest, at the vicarage. She had her meals prepared by Perpetua, =
the
priest's housekeeper, and walked to the school house every morning. The bab=
y was
called Carla. In the =
meantime
Giovanna's best friend had a second baby, a son, and Irene was given a new=
post
to teach in Giovanna's old village, Poggio. A new school house had been
provided there, not a new building, but one floor of a newly built house o=
f a
family whose father had come back from the As the =
family was
growing, life was good for the Perotti. Mr.Mason came regularly to =
He got =
himself a
dog, a mongrel, which a farmer gave him and which he trained for the shoot=
ing
season. All the family became very fond of Furio, who lived in a kennel ou=
tside
in Summer and in the kitchen in Winter. On one =
of his
trips, Joe came back a proud owner of a wireless, that kept him busy for m=
any
hours a day, especially when it was wet, as he followed news from all over the world. He =
was an
enthusiastic listener and often he invited some of the men from the villag=
e, in
the evenings, to get them interested in what was going on outside the
restricted village life. They followed the adventures of the Nobile expedi=
tion
to the North Pole, when the number of listeners became a crowd, anxious to=
know
the latest news of the lost men after the crash of the hot air balloon. The nex=
t passion
of Joe were records, when he bought a gramophone of "La voce <=
st1:State> In June=
1927
Valledoro had the honour of a visit from Gigli who came to sing, invited b=
y a
well to do art lover, on the occasion of the festival of Saint Romualdo. W=
ho
but Francesco, who knew everybody and everything, could arrange for their =
small
party to be present at the reception given after the concert to the artist=
s? It was =
Joe's greatest
thrill, to be introduced to his idol, such a great singer, who already had=
had
his first successes in Photogr=
aphy became
another of Joe's passions. He was very eager to take very good pictures of=
his
family, so he was forever telling them to learn to keep still, just for th=
ose
few vital moments, to give him a chance to become an expert. At any reunio=
n with
friends, there he was, always pacing down the exact distance, waiting for =
the
best light, while placing his camera on a tripod, a black cloth on top und=
er
which he covered his head, while counting the seconds until the
"take". Eventually he did take some very good shots, so good tha=
t at
some Christening party, or Confirmation,, his pictures were as good as tho=
se of
the official photographer. He scan=
dalised his
mother in law by taking his daughter, Carla, in the nude, sitting on a sto=
ol,
with her legs crossed, when she was about four years old. It was really a
beautiful study, very much admired by all, except by Signora Anna, who
remarked, "Another custom from his American days, I suppose". La=
ter,
as usual, she would come round to accept his way of thinking, she never ha=
d a
grudge against him. Only once she went on sulking for a long time, on a su=
bject
which had shocked her and she could not come to understand. Carla had come=
out
with one of those embarrassing questions children often ask: "W=
hat does it
mean that aunt To stal=
l the
subject, she asked: "Where did you hear such a thing?" "I=
heard my
godmother telling my godfather, when I was at their house." came the
answer. Giovann=
a looked at
Joe, who was present, hoping for help while Carla still pressed on, adding=
:
"Does it mean that she has a big cinta (belt), mummy?" Joe ste=
pped in and
candidly gave his answer to Carla's question: "It means that your aunt
will soon have a baby, who will be your cousin. This baby is now in your a=
unt's
tummy" Carla w=
as left
without words, she quietly slipped out of the room, to ask her Grandmother=
if
she knew and if it was true. Later
Giovanna had a long talk with her which left Carla a little disappointed t=
hat
there was no stork carrying babies and that Peppina, the midwife did not h=
ave a
secret place where to get them from.
"She only comes to help when babies are about to be born",
Carla was told. Well, there was no point in being nice to her when they me=
t in
town, Carla thought, while she had hoped she could ask her to choose a nice
little girl cousin for her. This ep=
isode
caused a lot of friction in the family, Giovanna confided to her friend Ir=
ene.
Her mother had been shocked by Joe's attitude and she was too. Although
Giovanna was the more excitable of the two, the one with a fiery temper, J=
oe
was the one to get his way just by saying quietly what he thought. His
character had nothing of a typical Italian, one could have mistaken him fo=
r a
phlegmatic, unruffled Anglo-Saxon. They could not quarrel, no matter how m=
uch
they disagreed on a subject: Joe would let her let off steam, without incensing her, the=
n he
knew that after a while she would calm down and perhaps think on his lines=
. He
never raised his voice to her or to the children, he would always reason, =
like
a very experienced diplomat. The qua=
rrels were
invariably about trivial matters, so they were only disagreements, like wh=
en
Carla, under her father's instructions, found out that the dear old Befana=
, who
brought presents to the children on January 6th, (Epiphany day), did not e=
xist
at all, only in stories. The
presents were brought by Father Christmas, who found his way to the school
house as he would have done to American children. Giovanna and Joe never a=
greed
on this, with great joy for their children: Father always gave them presen=
ts at
Christmas time, while mother kept to the Italian tradition of giving them =
on
the night of January 5th. Ev=
en if
the Befane did not exist, like Father Christmas, as Giovanna told them, th=
ey
gained by getting presents t=
wice! It was a
"must" to go to town on December 13th, St.
Lucia's day, when sta=
lls
sold figures made in the local potteries, for making the "Presepio&qu=
ot;,
the scene of the Nativity, that every home with young children would prepa=
re
for Christmas. The leg=
end says
that St. Lucia lived around =
300
A. D. She gave all her riche=
s to
the poor, then she was denounced by her fiancé' as a prostitute and
condemned to be burned alive. As by miracle, the flames did not touch her,=
so
she was beheaded and her eyes taken out of their socket. For this reason s=
he
was regarded as the Saint protector of people's sight. Some Benedictine mo=
nks
built the Church dedicated to Often J=
oe enjoyed
a walk down to the Mill, where his mother still lived. She was getting on =
in
the years, but she was still strong and had a will of her own. She could l=
ook
after herself and her youngest unmarried daughter, Natalina. The family ha=
d a
few acres of land nearby, which was not cultivated, and some other buildin=
gs,
that had been houses a long time ago, and now were sometimes used as barns=
and
stables by the mezzadro who looked after their land. He never tired admiri=
ng
the peace and serenity of the place, the beautiful meadows, full of wild
flowers in spring, the gleaming stream, the duck pond. Sometimes Giovanna came when scho=
ol was
over, and later his children used to accompany him. In his =
wildest
dreams he used to imagine the place was a beautiful country mansion, on a
country estate, like he had seen in In Wint=
er the snow
came early to Montello and for two or three months the bus service was out=
of
action, so it was impossible for any other vehicle to get there. It was not
easy to call for a taxi even if the road was passable, because one needed =
to
send a message by hand through somebody who walked to town. When a lot of =
snow
fell and the village was cut off, the villagers usually got together to ma=
ke a
rough snowplough, to clear a path as far as the main road, that would be
cleared by the Municipal Authority. Weather
permitting, the taxi was booked for every Thursday morning. The Perotti fa=
mily
were always ready early in the morning for the arrival of the black shining
limousine driven by one of the Borelli brothers, the taxi drivers. The vil=
lage
children always followed their departure and their return with frantic wav=
es of
their hands, and open mouthed. What would some of them have done to have a
short ride in the forbidding vehicle, or even just to sit on the back seat
which looked so comfortable, like a throne in Heaven! Every Thursday was a
Primary school holiday, so this day of the week was dedicated to shopping =
and
to meeting friends in Valledoro. The friends they met without exceptions w=
as
the family of Irene. The meeting place was the main cafe in the square, the
"Caffe' Centrale" at about 10. 30. or later, if Giovanna and Ire=
ne
had a meeting at the school Inspectorate. The chi=
ldren of
the two couples were also glad to meet each other, as they were of similar
ages. By then, Joe's treat to the children was to order for them a huge di=
sh of
pastries: bigne', cannoli, diplomatici, would disappear in no time, washed=
down
by numerous bottles of "aranciata S. Pellegrino". While they gor=
ged
themselves, the parents enjoyed their chats in peace, sipping their Espres=
si
and aperitivi, catching up with the news. Giovann=
a and Irene
both had their hair long to the waist, often rolled into a bun at the nape=
of
the neck. The fashion for sh=
ort hair
came to their part of the world a little later than in the big cities, but=
when
it came, like a hurricane, it swept everything in its wake. "La
garcon" look was there to stay. Every time Giovanna met Irene, she he=
ard
of more and more of their acquaintances that had succumbed to the fashion.=
They
liked the new look very much, but they were undecided worrying at what the=
ir
husbands' reaction would be. However, Irene confided to Giovanna that earl=
ier
in the year, when her mother had died, she had told her that one of her la=
st
wishes had been to see her daughter with short hair and that Irene should =
have
hers cut. That di=
d it:
without telling their husbands, pretending to go to a school meeting, the =
two
friends made an appointment for the following Thursday at "Delia's&qu=
ot;
salon where their crowning glory was sacrificed to fashion. Under Delia's
expert hands at Marcel waving, they changed their appearance completely, t=
hen
presented themselves for approval to their families. The surprise was received PHOTOGRAPH PHOTOGRAPH THree women and a dog with mu=
ch pleasure
by Joe and Francesco who approved wholeheartedly of their wives action, wh=
ile
the children hardly noticed any change in their mothers looks. During =
the long
Spring Sundays, Joe liked to join the villagers for a game of "ruzzol=
a'.
The ruzzola was a disk made of hard wood, usually oak, about two inches th=
ick
and its circumference depended on the size of the owner's hand span. It sh=
ould
be held comfortably between the thumb and the index finger. You threw it by
winding a piece of string around it three or four times, this helped to ma=
ke it
spin and take the curved trail you aimed at, following the bends of the ro=
ad. The string was rubbed with a hand=
ful of
grass to make it more malleable. From Ea=
ster to hay
making time, in June, before it became too hot, all the men either played =
or
followed the crowd that watched, rather like golfers, from a public galler=
y,
shouting their encouragement to their heroes or swearing when the ruzzola =
went
off the road into a ditch or down the embankment into a field from where
children usually retrieved it. The secret throw for winning was to strike =
the
hardened ruts made by the cartwheels in the mud, then your ruzzola would f=
ollow
them, like a bob sleigh in its run, never going off the road. The best ruz=
zole
were made by the "bottaio", the barrel maker, who also made
cartwheels, but they were expensive, so during the long Winter evenings, m=
any
were made in the village stables. If the wood cracked, the only remedy was=
to
soak the pieces in cow's urine, until the crack closed. There w=
as an
extravagant character, who often came from town to join the players, who
insisted that he should be allowed to use a ruzzola made from hard cheese,
betting that he would win. He never did, but always ended up by paying dri=
nks
for all present. Traffic being non existent during these games, the most o=
ne
could meet was a bicycle or a cart. Once or=
twice a
year the Perotti organised a mountain climb with friends, usually just aft=
er
the schools closed for the Summer. The choice was invariably the highest p=
eak
of the main chain, which stood like a giant amongst the lower mountains in=
the
vicinity . To climb that mountain, called "La Strega", the witch=
, was
a memorable achievement, especially for the ladies of the group. PHOTOGRAPH Young people on country walk L4 PHOTOGRAPH FAMILY GROUP The mou=
ntain, void
of roads, crossed only by tracks made by animals and woodcutters, was a
challenge that few would attempt to conquer, humping their rucksacks full =
of
provisions. Often a youngster, called Raffaele and his mule, Romeo, joined=
the
climbers as welcomed porters. They al=
ways
started when it was still very dark, under the stars, then as the sky bega=
n to
get lighter, it revealed the silhouettes of the uninterrupted line of
mountains, growing like enormous black shadows in the twilight world. Then they were to witness =
the
glorious dawn, the magical moment when, with all the colours streaming acr=
oss
the horizon, the sun made its appearance, a red ball of glowing fire that
embraced the earth, and brought a warm feeling right inside your body. To
witness the sun rise, everybody stopped climbing for a while, they sat and
watched in awe, then after some refreshments, on again they went, pushed b=
y an
increased will to reach the "traguardo". To arri=
ve to the
top, when the sun was high on the horizon and the valleys sparkling under =
its
rays, was indeed an experience like a runner getting to the ribbon of the
finishing line. To conquer a peak is like touching the sky with your finge=
r, it
gives the climber great satisfaction, immense joy. The higher the mountain=
and
the harder the ascent, the stronger is the emotion you feel at getting to =
the
summit. When you are up there, there is only the sky to look up to, while =
the
woods, the pastures are at your feet, under you, the villages and the road=
s are
small, unreal, and you feel as free as a bird. Lunch w=
as under
the cool shade of the very old trees and a well deserved rest followed. On=
the
way to the top there was a spring of beautifully cool water where to revit=
alise
the tired limbs and replenish the water containers. Nearby some shepherds =
lived
for a few months of the year, looking after their cattle. They welcomed the
chance of a chat, then, if you still felt energetic enough, you could foll=
ow
the path to the other side of the mountain, which took you to the mouth of=
a cave,
which was always a great attraction to visit. Ladies =
usually
went on collecting wild berries and in particular strawberries, which grew
plentifully in the saddle of the "Strega" on the way to the cave,
while the male members of the group went on descending down the steel ladd=
er
that took them into the bowels of the earth, inside the great mountain. Great c=
aves
stretched in galleries, where enormous stalactites and stalagmites had mad=
e a
magical world, a fairy tale place, dotted with small water reservoirs, whi=
ch to
the light of the visitors' torches, reflected all the colours of the rainb=
ow,
and the sparkle of hidden jewels in rock formations. Having
accomplished this feat, they started on the walk back down, towards home. =
Examina=
tion day
was the highlight of the school year, when the third grade pupils took the
leaving exams to get the certificate of completion of the lower elementary
school, which was as much as anybody in a rural area would ever get. The t=
est
was conducted by a senior male teacher from one of the schools in town,
appointed by the district inspector, and it reflected the capability and
expertise of the village teacher, so it was always with a certain amount of
trepidation that the fateful day was awaited. Three or four rural schools would=
join
together in the biggest classroom, which in this case it was Giovanna's sc=
hool.
PHOTOGRAPH Nobody =
in the
vicinity had a building like hers. For these exams, some children had to w=
alk
four or five kilometres. The exams were usually over by lunch time, when, =
in
very friendly surroundings, the classroom would quickly change into a large
dining room, for the large banquet that followed, at which took part not o=
nly
the teachers and the examiner, but the school inspector especially invited=
on
the condition that he should arrive only at dinner time, and the teachers
husbands. Giovann=
a was
considered the best cook of the teachers circle and "the festival of =
the
exams" was her day of triumph! After a=
seaside
holiday, in September, the Perotti came back to Montello and Joe enjoyed s=
ome
shooting which went on until the next January. He left very early in the
morning with his faithful dog Furio, his 12 bore shotgun across his should=
ers,
the bandolier and a bag across his chest. "I=
n bocca al
lupo". Giovann=
a used to
wish him luck, with this saying "in the mouth of the wolf", whic=
h in Sometim=
es
youngsters from the village joined Joe. None of them had a licence, as they
could not afford the fee, but they all had a gun and there would not be an=
ybody
representing the law, out in the wild ending the day by a roaring fire, me=
eting
the ones left at home, eager=
to
hear the day's adventures. They us=
ually came
back to the school house, for a snack and a drink. If it was late in the
evening, the women would com=
e with
their knitting, to have a chat with Giovanna, who enjoyed to hear about th=
eir
families and their children in particular. They Joe kne=
w all the
people that lived in the village. He enjoyed exchanging a word with all of the=
m: from
the ones that tried to polish up their speech and accent to imitate the ci=
ty's
people's talk, to the most strange and unarticulated characters. Like ol=
d Romualdo,
the church verger, whose raucous voice sounded like a fog's horn, keeping =
you
always aware of his performances in Church, when rocking the burning incen=
se
bowl, while accompanying his movements with singing the answers required d=
uring
the service. He used to wear two vests at a time, plus pants and socks to =
match
and he boasted that he only changed once a year, his motto being "What
shelters you from the cold, will shelter you from the heat", so wheth=
er
the temperature was 10 C. degrees below zero or in the 30s above, he always
wore the same clothes. Mr. Mas=
on usually
came from the States in the Spring and Joe joined him wherever he was goin=
g.
Letters from Joe to Giovanna were very frequent, He kept her well informed=
of
their travelling and of the new experiences in different countries and cit=
ies. His let=
ters had the
postmarks of places she had only dreamed of : The las=
t was the
most fascinating of the cities he had visited and his admiration for the
Anglo-Saxon world was exuding from every page. One of the great attraction=
s was
being able to speak in English with the people he met in Erroll's company,
people from the world of art, from the theatre and from the aristocracy. "Y=
ou cannot
visualise how green and luscious the English countryside looks", he w=
rote,
"We spent a few days in a marvellous residence, deep in the country. =
The
beautifully landscaped garden, the antique furniture, the paintings and ob=
jects
of art, are like something out of a film set. I have met a friend of Errol=
l,
called Toby. He is the proprietor of the "London News Agency" an=
d the
founder of the Ski Club of Great Britain, an art lover and writer, who inv=
ited
us to his house. There we met his wife, Gertie, who had been an actress, a=
t a
theatre called "Gaiety",
where the girls performing were chosen for their beauty. " The gol=
f course
had been the subject of some pages too.&n=
bsp;
Before going to play golf, as guests of a well known golf club, Err=
oll
and Joe had visited a very famous store in Piccadilly, called Simpson, to buy all the ne=
cessary
clothes. "Y=
ou
will love the jacket I bough=
t, made
of the softest suede, so warm against the cold wind, and with so many pock=
ets.
It will be very useful for hunting. " CHAPTER &=
nbsp;
9 Travelling with Erroll In her old fashioned way of thinki=
ng
Signora Anna had come to the conclusion that to go to the seaside for two,
three months every year was a sheer waste of money, when she knew many fam=
ilies
were on the bread line and the number of people unemployed was great. She =
could
understand perhaps such an extravagance if it was imperative to somebody's=
good
health, but in their case it was mostly for a change of scenery, as she
understood, for Joe and Giovanna to be in different surroundings from the =
rest
of the year. Obviously her daughter and her husband were looking forward v=
ery
much to what she regarded as a mere whim, an eccentricity that could be ta=
ken
by others as sheer megalomania. "O=
ne month by
the sea should be enough for anybody" she always said. She cou=
ld not just
sit under the umbrella day after day, while she thought she could do so ma=
ny
useful things at home or at the houses of her other daughters. Therefore s=
he
decided to spend only some of the Summer time with Giovanna and her family,
then she would go on to her other daughters and grandchildren for the rest=
of
the holiday, coming back to Montello when the school opened again. She tho=
ught
that perhaps this idea of a long holiday was another part of the American
heritage Joe had brought with him. She was always very fond of him, he was=
the
most kind and thoughtful of sons in law, the real gentleman of the family,=
as
she always called him, however as far as the seaside was concerned, she had
been adamant that she would only stay for a short while. They al=
ways chose
the same family seaside resort, quiet, yet fashionable, one of those places
dotted along the Adriatic coast, with a long, wide sandy beach, which had =
given
it the name of "La spia=
ggia di
velluto", the velvet beach. Although it was just a stone throw from t=
he
very much sought after holiday place chosen by Mussolini and his family to
spend their Summer holiday, it did not have all the amusements and the big
crowds looking for a lively night life. That pa=
rticular
year Joe was to join Erroll, so Signora Anna thought she would stay a litt=
le
longer with Giovanna who was pregnant. It was a yearly occasion for the Bo=
relli
brothers, the owners of the car hire firm in Valledoro, to drive the Perot=
ti
family to the villa they rented every year by the This ti=
me it was
Antonio, the youngest and most loquacious of the three, who arrived very e=
arly
one morning with their largest limousine, that would take all the luggage =
the
family needed for such long stay: they took from personal effects to house
linen, to the Neapolitan coffee pot that Giovanna regarded as making the b=
est
coffee and which went everywhere she went. On the =
way,
Antonio would fill in for Giovanna all the gaps in the gossips from the
town, as he knew everybody a=
nd
everything that happened. Joe was=
very sorry
not to travel with the family and see them settled in . He had no idea whe=
n and
if he could join them at all, but he had promised he would try and visit t=
hem
as soon as possible. He saw his family off, then a little later in the day=
, the
second of the Borelli brothers, Arturo, came to pick him up to take him to=
the
station. He was due to join Erroll in The tra=
in journey
took many hours. His first stop was Joe had=
never seen
the yacht, which Erroll had acquired a few months earlier. It was his late=
st
toy. Erroll loved the sea and had been talking about getting a boat for a =
time,
but Joe had no idea that "the boat" would be an ocean going vess=
el, an
enormous floating residence which dwarfed the other ships in the marina. A membe=
r of the
crew, obviously expecting Joe's arrival,&=
nbsp;
greeted him and guided him up the gangplank then showed him to his
quarters. He would not have
realised he was on a boat: the room was just like one of a very expensive =
hotel
and he could not but compare it to the "quarters" he had travell=
ed on
his long sea journey across the Atlantic Ocean many years earlier. The res=
t of
the accommodation looked as luxurious as he never thought possible, but knowi=
ng
Erroll's taste, it did not really come as a big surprise. There w=
as a fresh
breeze from the sea, that Joe welcomed, as he stepped into the dreamland l=
ife
he lived whenever he spent any length of time in the company of this
extraordinary man that was Erroll. "Extraordinary" was not enoug=
h to
describe him: he was good at heart, cheerful, extrovert, friendly. Everybo=
dy,
no matter from whatever humble walk of life, was always welcomed and made =
feel
at home in his company. He was =
extremely
well educated, polite, eccentric and, most of all, rich. Money was no object to anyt=
hing he
decided to do and Joe soon got used to his sudden impulses, his quick chan=
ge of
mind, his buying sprees. He =
had no
family, he never married. Joe realised that he did not want to tie himself=
to
any person in a conventional relationship. Once Er=
roll
confided in him: he had been engaged to the lady whose beautiful painting
dominated the yacht stateroom, the lady that very sadly had died before th=
ey
could marry. He had vowed then he would never make any other woman Mrs Mas=
on.
He had the ship named "La Gioconda", because of the lady's simil=
ar
enigmatic smile to Leonardo's masterpiece and also because her name had be=
en
Joy. Her memory was to bring happiness, not sorrow, the way she would have
wanted it. Erroll =
was not
short of lady friends, whenever he went, but no more than friendship any of
them managed to get from him. La Gioconda was always full of people, young,
good looking, fun people, friends and acquaintances that crowded the
magnificent parties given aboard. Joe was Erroll's right hand, he arranged
receptions, he saw that everything run smoothly and the staff did their job
efficiently and properly. Jo=
e was a
good sailor, he had never suffered from any ill feeling during his earlier
journey so he was not worried at the thought of travelling in Erroll's com=
pany
in the yacht. They st=
ayed two
more days in For his=
part, he
very seldom gambled and he thought it was a good thing they would be saili=
ng
out of Montecarlo the next day before Joe got really bitten by the bug! They we=
re to drop
anchor at Portofino, where Erroll was to meet a friend from the world of
cinema, who lived there, in a villa splendidly and precariously built on a
cliff above the small harbou=
r,
where, like in Monte Carlo, the yachts of the rich abounded, giving the pl=
ace
the appearance of a picture postcard, with the green hills rising from the
bluest of the seas dotted with white villas placed in the most inspiring a=
nd
breathtaking panoramas. Sailing=
along the west coast of After t=
hat port,
the final destination was When th=
ey
travelled for business, to look for and to buy works of art, Joe's knowled=
ge of
the Italian language was invaluable. He was the one Erroll trusted implici=
tly
in evaluating and understanding the honesty of the Italian dealers. Joe was
present at all the transactions, ready to warn Erroll if he suspected anyt=
hing
not above board or outside the law. Although Erroll could speak very good
Italian, he feared that he could be easily the victim of unscrupulous
individuals and he felt uneasy unless he could be on equal terms with them=
. Joe not=
only knew
the language to perfection, with no foreign accent, but he understood dial=
ects
from every corner of Italy, North or South, that was part of the heritage =
he
had brought with him from the community of Central city. It was =
there that
his ears got accustomed to hear every tongue and to master the meaning of =
every
slang word and vernacular spoken by the immigrants that represented every =
part
of At the =
seaside
town where the Perotti spent their Summer holidays, Giacinta, la "bag=
nina
", the lady who supplied and looked after deck chairs and umbrellas,
regarded the Perotti family as her best customers. They came as punctual a=
s the
Summer, always between the middle and the end of June, having booked a vil=
la to
rent and a beach hut from one year to the next. They to=
ok them for
the whole season, from June to the end of September, because, if the schoo=
ls
delayed their opening, they could stay a little longer than the middle of =
the
months. As matter of fact, at some point, the opening of the schools was
delayed to October the first as long as there were no exams to be taken an=
d as
this did not apply to elementary rural schools, they just got the benefit =
of
two extra weeks added to the holiday. They usually came all together, moth=
er,
father, grandmother, maid and Carla. Giacinta knew them all, since their f=
irst
visit when Carla was just a few months old, a baby in arms, and they had n=
ever
missed a Summer at the resort. She wou=
ld provide
for them everything they could possibly wish in the way of beach comfort. =
Their
villa was just across the road from the beach huts that Giacinta managed, =
on
the beautiful "lungomare", lined with trees and masses of oleand=
er bushes
of every colour. Giacint=
a and her
husband Giulio were very fond of the Perotti family. They always reserved =
for
them an umbrella on the first line near the sea and the hut next to the pa=
ssage
from the road. Giulio worked at a local factory, about one mile away from =
the
town. He left early every morning on his bike, but his first stop was at t=
he
beach, as he fitted in the job of opening the umbrellas and taking out the=
deck
chairs from the biggest hut which functioned as a store. The umbrellas were
usually left in the sand, unless a storm threatened the night before, when=
they
had to be brought inside. Th=
e lower
part of the umbrellas, the sticks, stayed buried in the sand the whole sea=
son. In the =
evening
Giulio was back to do the same job in reverse, packing the chairs inside a=
nd
closing the umbrellas. It was a tiring end to his working day, but it was =
a job
he could not afford to leave to other people, as it was very lucrative and=
his
family drew from it all the comforts the year round, that his factory job =
could
not provide. It gave them al=
l the
little extras that make life more pleasant. Giacint=
a looked
after the customers with care, always with a smile for everybody even when=
she
had to put up with odd requests from odd people and sometimes, but rarely,=
with
some rudeness. All along the beach, for about one mile, the line of huts w=
as
divided by colour, every colour belonging to a different "bagnino&quo=
t; or
"bagnina". The stretch of beach assigned to them, was given on l=
ease
from the Municipal authority at a derisory price, and was renewed every ye=
ar,
as long as the lessees had run the business with competence, kept their patch clean and respec=
ted the
rules. Needles=
s to say
that there was a long list of would be bagnini, only waiting for some of t=
hem
to slip up and to have their permits revoked, ready to get into their shoe=
s. The mai=
n hut of
every patch, usually in the middle, sported a flag with the name of that
particular bagnino on its roof. Here the name "Giacinta" was wri=
tten
in bold yellow letters on a blue ground, the colours of Giacinta's patch. =
They
originated from her name: Giacinta Zafferani, hyacinth blue and saffron ye=
llow.
She sat=
, bare footed, dressed in a sleevel=
ess
black overall, her head covered by a colourful scarf, knotted pirate fashi=
on,
under an oversize yellow umbrella, behind a table with a drawer where she =
kept
keys (she used to say that she had more keys than St. Peter) and money, and on top sat =
a large
box, with a red cross on it, the first aid box. In the eventuality when a small a=
ccident
should happen, if a child fell and cut himself or if one of the bathers sh=
ould
be unfortunate enough to step on a "pesce ragno", the dreaded sp=
ider
fish whose sting causes strong pain and swelling, Giacinta was quite capab=
le of
giving first aid and judging=
if
there was need to send for a doctor, which could be summoned in short time=
. During =
July and
August Giacinta's sister came too to give a hand and she would carry a gre=
at
dish of spaghetti from the house for Giacinta and her helpers to consume i=
n the
privacy of the store hut where they had a table and they took turns to eat
their lunch. There were also two cousins, Gino and Paolo, good swimmers, w=
ho
shared the task of lifesavers, ready to go to help any bathers in distress=
or
when a rowboat did not come back at the given time. They also put out the "red
flag", on top of Giacinta's main hut, when so advised by the port
authority that it was a dangerous day for swimming owing to weather condit=
ions.
The por=
t authority
came in the guise of a little man who rode a bicycle from the "casa
portuaria" where the office of the harbour captain was and went all a=
long
the stretch of beach on the east side of the harbour pier, which was the m=
ost
fashionable and expensive part of the beach, stopping, when he reached the=
main
hut of a bagnino, to shout: "B=
andiera
rossa!" Red fla=
g, then he
went on to the next patch, until he had finished performing the same duty =
all
along till the end of the beach huts,&nbs=
p;
then he cycled back to the middle and continued on the West side of=
the
pier. By the time he got to =
the
last huts somebody could have easily already be in trouble or the weather =
might
have changed for the better, in which case the bandiera rossa would still =
be
there, flying under the scorching sun, while the people wondered why on ea=
rth
it was there in the first place, but such was the psychological effect of =
the
red flag that still nobody would swim and Giacinta was one to be very ster=
n and
obstinate in these occasions: no swimming and no boats out while the red f=
lag
flies! The mes=
senger,
still puffed from the first bicycle ride, would not come twice in the same=
day,
so only the next morning could bring a change in the outlook. A little swi=
mming
was in fact permitted even during the red flag session, but it was restric=
ted
to a stretch of water very near the beach, where people could still stand,=
so it
really meant a ban for the good swimmers, like Joe. He used=
to have a
row in a "moscone", (literally a bluebottle), a sort of catamaran, with two flo=
ats and
two seats across, every morning as he got to the beach, when the air was c=
lear
and still and the beach empty, except for the fishermen pulling their nets=
. As
soon as his children were old enough he taught them to swim and row. He did not have much luck with Gi=
ovanna,
who hated swimming and never learned.&nbs=
p;
She would bathe, but just to play about and splash. Giovanna went on
occasional trips on a boat, shaded by her inseparable large straw hat as h=
er
skin was very pale and delicate. Joe qui=
ckly got a
suntan that he retained even during the Winter months. He looked very different from the=
dark
Italians, being so fair haired. He was a very good strong swimmer, he insp=
ired
so much trust that he even managed to take his mother in law on a boat.
Unfortunately a motor boat cut across at great speed and a wave caught the
moscone sideways, rocketing it strongly: "M=
io
Dio!", she shouted, fea=
ring
for the worst. Joe kne=
w then that
it was time to take her back to shore,&nb=
sp;
to the great amusement of Ida, the maid who had been courageous eno=
ugh
to endure the waves without fear. Signora=
Anna did
not always come to the beach with the others. Often she preferred to sit i=
n the
shade of the pink mimosa trees in the garden of the villa. She was always dressed in dark cl=
othes,
with long sleeves and when she ventured out, she wore a large hat while she
cooled herself with an outsize fan. Usually she sat on a deck chair,
embroidering. She reserved knitting for the Winter's evenings at home. To =
work
with thick wool made her feel too hot! Ida use=
d to go to
the beach late every morning=
after
she had done the shopping and finished the housework. She amused them all =
so
much as she would not wear a swimming costume, that Giovanna had bought her, but=
a
dress and she would never put as much as a foot in the water. The only concession she gave at b=
eing by
the sea, was to sit behind the beach hut, pull up her skirt just above her
knees, and let the sun get at her legs. She was so ashamed of their colour=
as
she had noticed nobody had on them the red-blue marks in a spider's web
pattern, which she got every Winter by sitting in front of the open fire at
home. So she was hoping the sun would make them brown all over and obliter=
ate
the rest. To Giac=
inta it was
a great mystery the kind of job Mr.Perotti did, a real challenge to any
respectable Italian bagnina determined to know life and death of the peopl=
e in
her care! He seemed always to be well off and he was so generous, his tips=
were
never matched by any of her other customers. "W=
hat does he
do for a living "? she would ask Ida on a few occasions, hoping to fi=
nd
the Achille's tendon, But one would have thought the answer was incised on
a record, as Ida always repl=
ied : "He
travels", adding nothing to this declaration, to give the slightest h=
int. In fact=
she knew
nothing more than that. Most of=
the
families came for a month, either July or August and the Perotti made quit=
e a
number of friends that kept returning every year. September was the time w=
hen
there was hardly anybody left on the beach except for two families, the Pe=
rotti
and the Garrani who remained till the end, after the beach huts were empty=
and
the umbrellas hardly necessary to shade from the weakening rays of the
September sun. Mr.Garrani wa=
s a
school inspector, a friend of the Perotti, who came with his wife who was =
a bit
of an invalid, crippled by rheumatism and needed all the rest she could ge=
t in
a warm climate. She spent most of the time lying in the sun . They ha=
d a
daughter, a girl in her early twenties, who was the beauty of the beach. S=
he
was certainly no help to look after her invalid mother, her concern seemed=
to
concentrate in showing off her statuesque bronzed body, like a Greek sculp=
ture,
worthy of Phidias, and she was always surrounded by a flock of adoring you=
ng
Adonis. So there was no lack of gossip to keep the beach talk interesting.=
She wor=
e the then
fashionable, very covered one piece costume, with a short skirt, that gave her figure a long,
elegant, uninterrupted line =
from
the nape of her neck to the long legs, down to the slender ankles. The eve=
ning
attraction for young people was dancing at
"La Rotonda", a large platform jutting out to sea, of rou=
nd
shape, hence the name. Every=
night
the Rotonda came alive to the sound of jazz and the dancing of fox trots,
tangos and waltzes. Sometim=
es Giovanna
and Joe had to oblige their friend the school inspector to chaperon their
daughter to the dances, as the mother was not able to go and the father di=
d not
want to leave her alone. Lella, that was her name, was always so well dres=
sed
and looked so beautiful, her tall straight figure giving more than a flutt=
er to
the hearts of the young and not so young onlookers. Many gi=
rls danced
under the watchful eyes of their parents who enjoyed a drink, the music an=
d the
fashion parade. Those were t=
he
nights when there was no way to go to bed until the early hours of the mor=
ning
for Joe and Giovanna as Lella being so popular, went on dancing till the e=
nd.
After all, with her father's job, which teacher could have left the inspec=
tor's
daughter at the mercy of her suitors? It was =
early, one morning in mid-July, when a
messenger from the telegraph office came to knock at the door of Viale
Adriatico, 36, the house rented by Joe and his family. Giovanna was just waking up, at t=
he
unexpected noise she jerked and suddenly jumped up, realising that Joe was=
not
there. For a split second sh=
e had
forgotten that he was with Erroll in "W=
hat is it,
What is happening?, she asked herself, rushing to the front door, where Id=
a had
already arrived, half asleep. A telegram usually brings bad news. Her moth=
er
appeared also at the front door. "A=
telegram
at this hour, it is certainly worrying". Giovanna took the envelope f=
rom
the young boy in uniform with trembling hands, all the time thinking "I hope Joe is alright"=
. She was not even sure where he wa=
s by
now, because when she had he=
ard
last they were leaving "T=
here could
always be a bad storm", she feared. A journey in a yacht brought back=
to
her memories of Her mot=
her
dismissed the telegraph boy with a tip, then Giovanna finally read the con=
tent
of the message. It was very clear and while reading it, life came back to her face: "W=
e will see
you tomorrow, love, Joe, Erroll" She read it again and again, until it
sunk in. Erroll was coming with Joe, as often he had expressed the wish to=
meet
the family. She did=
not panic,
but started giving Ida the t=
ask of
tidying the house, do shopping and make plans for tomorrow's lunch. They had no idea at what time the=
y would
arrive, whether by car or by=
train,
but they would be ready to receive them from very early morning. In the =
meantime
Giovanna, her mother and Carla went to the beach, very late, and soon
afterwards Ida came to say that lunch was ready, so they started collecting
their belongings and the toys scattered on the sand. All of =
a sudden,
there was some commotion amongst the bathers and the people on the beach. =
They
were looking towards the horizon, shading their eyes to try to distinguish=
what
that big shape at sea could be. Obviously it was a ship, a very large ship,
such as you did not see often on that stretch of the sea. It was coming ne=
arer,
yes, it was. Giovann=
a looked up
with the others, just as she was starting to walk home. Somebody had got h=
old
of a pair of binoculars and, while looking through, announced: "It is=
a
large yacht, it flies the American flag" Giovanna turned to her mothe=
r "A=
yacht? The
American flag?" "M=
io
Dio", Giovanna's heart jumped in her bosom. "It cannot be Joe wi=
th
Erroll, they are coming tomorrow, and I never thought they would come here=
by
ship. She sea=
rched her
pocket and got out the telegram, looking at the date: "What silly mis=
take
I have made, mother, Joe sent it last night, so "tomorrow" is
"today!" As she =
was so
talking to her mother, the lovely white boat was getting bigger and bigger,
approaching fast. She gave orders to Ida to run home and then she sat ther=
e,
next to Signora Anna, both s=
tunned,
waiting with joy, and some trepidation at the thought of meeting Mr.Mason =
for
the first time. In the =
meantime
the crowd had doubled, trebled, since it was clear that =
the
yacht was making for that particular stretch of the beach. Everybody was
shouting, gesticulating, trying to guess who could be coming. "S=
ara'
Mussolini?", "Will=
it be
Mussolini?", shouted so=
me
boys, who were promptly silenced by a severe old man. "D=
on't be so
foolish, Mussolini with the American flag?" "A=
film star,
then?" The guesses were many, all very much in the air. "I=
t will be
somebody famous, in any case=
",
a voice remarked, "to arrive in such a style". It was Giacinta w=
ho
had joined the excited crowd now, talking to Giovanna, who was sitting wit=
h her
mother, the only persons to sit composed and quiet. Ida had=
come back,
unable to resist the excitement, with the excuse of looking after Carla and
bringing her back home to lunch. Everybody was pushing towards the person =
who
had the binoculars. "W=
hat can you
see?" "I=
can see
the name" he finally with pride announced, "La Gioconda". <=
o:p> By then=
the yacht
remained at the same distance and it was obvious it had dropped anchor. A screa=
m from
Carla "Babbo, Babbo", daddy, daddy, was enough for all the peopl=
e to
turn towards the chairs where Giovanna and her mother were sitting. Now th=
ey
were smiling at the newly arrived. Joe stepped forward, looking healthy and
happy, followed by a very distinguished gentleman wearing white shorts and
shirt and a yachting cap. Both hu=
gged
Giovanna, Carla and Signora Anna, with great effusion, leaving the onlooke=
rs
open mouthed. Before Giacinta
revived from the shock, ready to fire questions, the family and Erroll qui=
ckly
walked across the road to enjoy the privacy of the house and to honour Ida=
's
sumptuous meal, which she managed to provide even at short notice. For the=
people
left on the beach to gaze at the sight, all was left but to watch the motor
boat ploughing the sea at great speed on the way back to the yacht. They co=
uld not get
over the fact that after waiting to see who was arriving, they knew nothing
more and the main nagging question, about the Perotti was. "W=
ho would
have ever thought? They look=
ed such
ordinary people!" They would have given their eye teeth to be now the
friends of "those" ordinary persons! Meanwhi=
le, at No.
36, Erroll was getting to know Joe's family. He was charmed by his daughter wh=
o could
not leave her father alone and was talking non stop, asking all the questi=
ons
any child would ask after seeing her daddy arrive in a beautiful boat. "W=
here do you
sleep in a boat? Do you see fishes swimming in the sea? Are there any
crocodiles, as in Ida's stories?" On and =
on she
went, until it was time for her lunch and she was taken by Ida to have her
meal, followed by her afternoon nap. Ida's l=
unch was
exquisite, she deserved the guest's and the family's praises. After coffee=
was
served, Signora Anna followed Carla for her rest, while Joe, Giovanna and
Erroll, went on talking. Err=
oll was
taken by Giovanna's charm, her manners,&n=
bsp;
her jovial character, her kindness and the way she seemed to manage=
her
household. "Y=
ou are a
lucky fellow, Joe, to have s=
uch a
lovely family. I envy you." He sighed, patting him on the shoulder. <=
o:p> Soon Er=
roll would
go back to the yacht, at a prearranged time, when the motor boat would come to=
fetch
him. Joe could stay a few more hours with the family, then the boat would =
come
back for him. With on=
e of his
sudden decisions, Erroll felt it would not be right to take Joe away with =
him
to Suddenl=
y he
interrupted the conversation: "May I make a suggestion?" he aske=
d.
The others looked at him, quietly waiting for his words. "Why don't w=
e go
to Astonis=
hed, Joe and Giovanna were speechless.=
"A=
nd
remember, my pleasure will be greater than yours" he added. He expl=
ained that
he would get to know them all better and they would not need to be
separated. "W=
hat do you
say?" he asked. Joe kne=
w how
generous Erroll was, they were sure of his genuine wish, but how could the=
y go?
They had Signora Anna, Ida, the house, how could they arrange at such a sh=
ort
notice to be free to leave? And, once in "W=
e all go,
that means Signora Anna and Ida who can look after Carla, while you, meani=
ng
Giovanna can enjoy Erroll =
was not the
type to take no for an answer. He soon had his way. By the time Signora An=
na
got up after her siesta, all=
had
been arranged. She thought she was having nightmares when she heard that t=
hey
would be staying at a first class hotel for such a long time and, on top of
that, they would get there by boat. Her plans to go to see her other daugh=
ters
dimmed away as, although she seemed reluctant to agree, she was really loo=
king
forward to a spell of luxury, which she had never tasted. She was a good s=
ailor
and a trip on the Giovann=
a had tried
to say that she had no suitable clothes for a stay at a luxurious hotel, b=
ut
with Erroll it was no use: "You can buy whatever you need when we get
there and you will have plenty of time to do it. You can get anything in <=
/span> Even Si=
gnora Anna
had to agree, she almost felt Mr.
Mason had become part of the family already. Carla was so excited a=
t the
thought of travelling on that big boat, she never stopped talking to Ida a=
bout
all the things she was hoping they would do and see. It was =
decided
that they would sail the next day, to give time to the family to get ready=
and
to close the house. Erroll went back to the yacht that evening and it was
arranged the motor boat would come in the morning for the others. Giovanna also thought it would be=
better
if Ida went back to her mother, she could help her with the harvest. She f=
elt
quite capable of looking after Carla herself and she could always leave her
with her mother when she wanted to be free. So they=
got busy
packing, Ida would go back by taxi and take to Montello all they did not
want with them in Venice. Th=
ey knew
they would have the most memorable of holidays. Curiosi=
ty had
brought all day and all evening onlookers on the beach, still puzzled by t=
he
mystery that surrounded the large yacht, that nobody had been able to unfo=
ld.
Early next morning the launch came to collect the luggage, then came back =
for
the passengers. It was still=
early
for the holidaymakers, only one or two could be seen combing the beach
collecting cockles. Giacinta had just arrived and her husband was getting =
out
the chairs. The Perotti told her that they were leaving that same morning =
and
would not be back that season. As Joe pressed into her hands a substantial=
amount of money, she felt so over=
whelmed
that in the process of thanking him for such generosity, she forgot to ask=
the
burning question on her lips. "W=
here are
you going?" The mot=
or launch
came and in a jiffy they all were in it, even Signora Anna was quick on
climbing aboard. By the time Giacinta composed herself, ready to fire
questions, it was too late, they were&nbs=
p;
waving her good bye. The engine roared and it took off. There w=
ould be no
news, no gossip to enlighten the deck chairs conversation today! The yacht was a heaven, &q=
uot;il
Paradiso", in the words of Signora Anna, with all the comforts and ex=
tras
that unlimited money can provide, the furnishings of the cabins was someth=
ing
out of a glossy magazine, the state room magnificent. As Giov=
anna
admired the painting of the =
girl
who had been in Erroll's life, he looked at the lovely face, with a warm s=
mile,
as if he wanted to tell her that he was learning to live with his grief, t=
hanks
to this little family's friendship and love. Soon "La Gioconda" =
was
heading North for the short trip to the reserved moorings on the Giudecca
canal, in the Venitian lagoon, a short distance from the "Riva degli
Schiavoni" and the pink building of the Hotel Danieli, that would be =
home
for Mr.Mason and his guests . As they=
entered
the lagoon by the Porto di Lido, Erroll explained to Giovanna that in this
channel of water the Doge used to perform his annual ceremony of the marri=
age
with the sea, throwing his r=
ing
into the water from the Bucintoro, the Doge's regal boat. After the Giocon=
da
berthed, near the "Punta della dogana", a motor launch took them=
and
the luggage, in turn to the old gothic Palazzo Dandolo, now The Danieli, w=
here,
by the way Mr. Mason was received,
it was clear that he was considered one of many very distinguished visitors =
to
patronise the establishment. Giovann=
a with
Carla and her mother, spent part of the time at the lido, considered the m=
ost
fashionable seaside resort in Erroll =
had
arranged everything: a motor launch was always at their disposal, from the
Danieli. They went to the lido in the morning, stayed on the beach until l=
unch
time, then they had their Carla h=
ad the
thrill of feeding the pigeons in St. Mark's square, of sitting in a gondola
making its way under the bridges, when she always feared the gondolier wou=
ld
have his head chopped off if he did not bend down! Giovanna enjoyed gettin=
g to
know She lov=
ed to
wander in the maze of the small cobbled streets, void of any vehicles, the=
top
of the buildings on either side being so near they nearly touched each oth=
er,
while the housewives from the high windows had chats at roof level. The small houses, built with enor=
mously
long and thin staircases, all with separate entrances, but divided inside =
in a
very funny and typical Venetian way: one owner had the first and third flo=
or,
while another had the second and fourth. The bas=
kets
hanging by a rope, that people used to retrieve the post or anything else
delivered, the dustman coming by a dustcart represented by a barge, the
funerals and weddings by gondola, all this was a fascinating discovery for
Giovanna. She was grateful to Erroll who was giving her such an opportunit=
y of
knowing an unforgettable pla=
ce. Joe was
understandably happy at having his family near, but the one who was radian=
t was
Erroll. He had been generous=
, yes,
but in this occasion he felt that Joe had been the most generous of the tw=
o, a
generosity he could never return, because Joe was letting him share the tr=
ue
treasures of his life, the treasures he, with all his wealth, had not been=
able
to possess. Nobody had seen him in such splendid form for a long time. CHAPTER &=
nbsp;
10 Fascism, 1932-1939. A son w=
as born to
Giovanna on She was=
barely
four, when she could read and when she wrote her first letter to her aunt =
Maria
in A teach=
er in a
small village was considered like the head of the community, a duty and ho=
nour
shared with the priest. It was for Giovanna to make propaganda for the Fas=
cist
Regime, helping in the demographic campaign to encourage the villagers to =
have
more children, as the birth-rate was in decline, to emphasise that the more
children you had, the better off you would be, having more hands to work a=
nd
paying less tax which was an incentive from the A young=
man
stopped paying the "tassa celibato", a celibacy tax as soon as he
married and bonuses were plentiful as the number of a family increased.
Teachers were reminded of their duty every time they opened a page of "I Diritti della Scuola"=
;, the
weekly teachers' magazine which was sent by post to every school, bringing=
the
word of the fascist gospel to the furthest
corners of the nation, while nearly every week there would be a mee=
ting
in town which they all had to attend, to receive the latest instructions on
being good apostles of the faith. The "Cultura del Fascismo", fa=
scist
culture, was added to the curriculum of every type of school. "P=
oche scuole
ma buone", few schools, but
good ones, was the motto, and the teaching of the new subject lifted even =
the
poor or mediocre ones to the grading of "good". Teachers had to =
drum
into people all the good things done by the fascist Giovann=
a had to be
increasingly involved in the O. N. B. (Opera Nazionale Balilla) activities=
in
school and outside school, because as a teacher she was the officer in cha=
rge
of Youth organisations for the village. She had to wear the uniform of &qu=
ot;Donna
Fascista", of which she became very proud, for school assemblies,
meetings, up to date courses. All their friends were Donne Fasciste if they
lived in town, "Massaie rurali", rural housewives if in the coun=
try.
Men teachers and some of the husbands of women teachers wore the black boo=
ts,
bouffant trousers, bush jackets, with belt and shoulder strap in black lea=
ther,
black fez decorated with a black silk fringe, that swayed from left to rig=
ht as
they walked or marched through the streets of the town at some parade at
"passo romano", a copy of Hitler's goose step, to the sound of &=
quot;Giovinezza"
played by the town band. In these
surroundings and in this company Joe stood out like a sore thumb. He did n=
ot
even dare talk to Giovanna of his anxieties, of his fear, where all this w=
ould
lead ordinary people like them. It was not Joe's choice that his son should
become a "figlio della lupa" 'a son of the she wolf', the wolf b=
eing
the one of The dau=
ghter,
Carla, was a "Piccola Italiana". Her uniform consisted of a plea=
ted
blue skirt, white blouse and later on she became a "Giovane
Italiana", finally, as a University student, she wore a black skirt, =
white
blouse, black bush jacket, with blue epaulettes and a blue scarf, the blue
being the characteristic colour of the G. U. F. (Gioventu Universitaria
Fascista). "Libro e moschetto, Fascista perfetto", book and musk=
et,
the perfect fascist, was their motto. The members of the Gioventu'
Universitaria Fascista were the most enthusiastic supporters of Mussolini,=
the
ones who would stage a demonstration and marches at the drop of a hat, to
glorify and reaffirm their belief in the regime. There w=
ere many
who tried to bring Joe to join the ranks, but he resisted all pressure. He=
only
felt contempt for the idiots who had to show they belonged to the party by
wearing on their lapel the "distintivo", which depicted a
"Fascio Littorio" surrounded by the initials P.N.F. (Partito
Nazionale Fascista). The "Fascio Littorio", emblem of the Fascist Regime, was=
a
bundle of sticks tied together with an axe at the top. In ancient Imperial=
Rome
it represented the authority of the "Lictores", or magistrates, =
who
held them . The one=
s who
loathed the distintivo called it "la cimice", the bed bug, somet=
hing,
which sticks to you like a parasite which you despise. It could be very
embarrassing to forget to wear it in your buttonhole. Your name could be a=
dded
to the list of people who had to be watched. People like Joe, who had lived
abroad, who knew very well how other people lived, who had tasted freedom =
in
another country, were more and more concerned at what was happening. All Gio=
vanna's and
Joe's friends were people who earlier or later had joined the party, none =
of
them could afford to lose their daily bread. Membership was required also =
in
catholic schools and, in 1933, a decree was passed requiring membership to=
the
party for admission to any public post however menial. Sometim=
es, but
rarely, Joe tried to reason with their closest friends and Giovanna: what =
gives
the fascists the licence to push people around, to bully them? In some
instances their conduct could be perhaps excused as they kept things worki=
ng,
trains running on time, strikes were now an unknown phenomenon, law and or=
der
had been restored. This wa=
s enough to
please people with short memories and they accepted Mussolini even if for =
many
"Fascism" continued to mean beating people with the "santo
manganello" 'the holy
truncheon' and performing feats of courage. "M=
ussolini ha
sempre ragione", Mussolini is always right All day=
and every
day the propaganda machine of the party worked hard to instil in the crowd
adulation for the "Duce" and to incite them to follow him wherev=
er he
would chose to lead the Italian people. One had only to turn on the radio =
and
there was no escaping from the speeches, the slogans, the popular songs th=
at
exalted the fascist way of thinking, damning the enemy, which for the time
being was only an imaginary enemy, but was taking shape in the world power=
s, in
anybody that got in the way of fascist expansion of Italy's sacrosanct rig=
ht to
push out the "Boot of
Italy" towards the South, the East Africa, so that Italians too could=
have
a place in the sun. And the=
British,
what did they think of them? They
would have to resign themselves to become again a "little island of
fishermen". The pro=
paganda
machine extended to the world of cinema, to the movies made in Cinecitta'.
Epics that portrayed Italian=
films did
not suffer any censorship, while the foreign ones could be banned for
instilling pacifism or for showing Italian gangsters in the The war=
in Joe had=
no chance
of winning in his arguments and he was wise not to push his ideas too far,=
it
could have been very dangerous. He never talked of his birthplace, of the =
He had =
to put up
and look happy with the introduction of the "Sabato fascista", t=
he
fascist Saturday, which he felt robbed him of another day of his family li=
fe.
The afternoon of every Saturday was now to be dedicated to a weekly assemb=
ly in
school grounds, with teachers and children in uniform, for activities, phy=
sical
education and military drills. Rural children were not expected to have a
uniform, but hey had to follow the other rules. Every member of the youth
organisation, right hand stretched in the Roman salute, had to declare his=
or
her allegiance in a ceremony to be performed every year, solemnly declarin=
g the
oath of the Balilla: "In the name of God and Italy I swear to follow =
the
Duce's orders, and to serve with all my strength and if necessary with my
blood, the cause of the fascist revolution". Then the hymn of "G=
iovinezza"
was sung in full, together with other hymns glorifying life under the
"Fascio Littorio". The rul=
es of
fascist youth organisation were: to be courteous, help the weak, keep clea=
n,
tell the truth, and when in presence of people who cast a doubt on princip=
les
of the regime, to intervene to correct or scold and silence anyone who hel=
d an
offensive attitude towards it. A Balilla had to project his ideal image on=
the
rest of the nation, an "Aryan" image. So far as persecuting Jewi=
sh
people, in small towns like Valledoro there were none, so it was only due =
to
some slogans said with an attitude of bravado rather than understanding, t=
hat
the subject came to light at all. Mr. Mas=
on kept
coming to Back in=
his home
environment, Joe knew he had to think on the same line as it was prescribe=
d. If
you did not conform you could pay very dearly, with prison and in extreme
cases, with life. He felt that Giovanna was drifting away from his beliefs=
, but
she could not afford not to be involved, like all their friends. In some way he considered himself=
lucky
that he was independent as far as he had a job which did not condition his
thoughts, but it was Giovanna's job that infringed the freedom he could
otherwise enjoy. Sometimes he had to shake his head to tell himself that i=
t was
not a dream, when the memory of what life was like in Once As he a=
ppeared,
the cries of "DUCE!", "DUCE!" were deafening, drowning
every other sound, until he would raise his right hand to salute and to si=
gnal
that he was going to speak, then a silence of the tomb pervaded the atmosp=
here
in the expectation of hearing the
voice whose magnetism sent the masses into a delirious trance. Those who had ever been present a=
t one
of his speeches felt lucky to have experienced such a feeling so they coul=
d do
nothing else but to follow him to the end, fight for him and with him. Why sho=
uld other
nations oppose Mussolini's aim at getting new lands for the Italian people=
? Why
object to the black shirts wishing to civilise those poor devils, the
Abyssinians, so backward and so poor?&nbs=
p;
The "faccette nere"
little black faces, needed a new culture, new roads, schools,
civilisation that their Emperor, the Negus, could not give them. So why not
give them a new king and a new flag? Sanctio=
ns were
imposed against "L=
a giornata
della fede", the day of the wedding ring, was an over publicised event
when Queen Elena of Savoy herself gave the lead to all Italian wives to do=
nate
their wedding rings to the motherland. A gigantic crucible was erected in =
front
of the tomb to the unknown soldier, on the "Altare della Patria"=
in
Rome and the Queen proudly walked up the steps, took off her wedding ring
dropping it into the hot container to be melted so the gold could be used =
to
buy raw material and other commodities, mainly arms, that Italy was short =
of.
"Oro alla Patria", Gold to the Motherland was the order of the d=
ay:
in all the towns, women followed their Queen's example and gave, it was
claimed, without regret the symbol of their wedding, in most cases the most
precious item they possessed. Without=
regret?
That was something that a great number of Italians, men and women alike, d=
id
not share with the propaganda machine. It was all very well to follow blin=
dly
what the party required, but there are limits, even for people well
indoctrinated like Giovanna and her friends. They ha=
d to find a
way around. So, as it is a second nature of every Italian to find a way ar=
ound
any obstacle, they went to buy a new gold ring to give to the cause, while=
they
put safely away, for the time being, their own precious memento, until it =
would
be safe to wear it again. The persons who rubbed their hands in delight, w=
ere
the jewellers who did very well out of the trade. Giovann=
a had to
organise the day of the ring in the village, as did all the other
teachers. The housewives cam=
e to
donate their possessions, husbands came too if they were wearing a wedding
ring. The teachers collected=
the
gold to be taken to the party headquarters in town. The people who donated their ring=
were
given in exchange one made of steel, which had the inscription: "Oro =
alla
Patria, Giovann=
a made a
little speech to the peasants gathered: "You will wear proudly this s=
teel
ring on your ring finger, to tell the world that you, too, have done your =
part
in fighting the infamous sanctions imposed against our country by those
monstrous powers that want to see Joe kne=
w she was
quite convinced of what she preached. In scho=
ols
children brought gold objects, not to be outdone by their mothers, and the
whole operation was a huge success.
Alas, not all the gold found its way to the melting pot: it went th=
rough
many hands and, as one can well imagine, many of those precious bags conta=
ining
the gold went astray into more than one "gerarca's" pocket! On the =
day of
Mussolini's downfall, Still, =
the
majority of the crowd was happy and proud, while Mussolini's conscripts we=
re
halfway through getting for them this new country in After t=
he African
war and then the conquest of Mussoli=
ni had
dreamed of a victory parade in The gol=
den lion
had been removed from the Imperial
palace in After t=
he gold, it
was the turn of "ferro alla Patria", iron to the Motherland, whe=
n all
the railings and gates were removed from houses, villas and factories and =
from
wherever there was any unnecessary amount of iron, to be taken to the
foundries. The older generation was becoming increasingly worried at the
friendship with the Germans. "W=
e fought
them in the world war, they are not our friends, they are our enemies"=
;,
was the cry. On the =
other side,
the young ones were very eager to follow Hitler's grand schemes of conques=
t.
They did not want to be left out. With a leader like Mussolini they would
conquer the world. "Noi tireremo diritto" We will carry on strai=
ght,
was the slogan. Now the best friends, and only friends, were the Germans a=
nd
the Japanese, the allies of the Axis
- Mussoli=
ni shared
with many leaders in history the knack of bluffing his way into the respec=
t and
admiration of a number of people by evoking God as his judge, as his advis=
er,
showing an image of himself as a family man. He composed poems, like the one on
bread, which melted many hearts, he regularly opened the grain threshing
season, bare chested, helping farmers in his country estate near Riccione,=
on
the Adriatic coast, where his family
GIRL WITH LONG HAIR
L5
VILLAGE SCHOOL L3