Things that I tell you separately
Like when, on cold winter evenings, everyone gathered around the fireplace to listen to the stories of the great .....
WAR AND DISPLACEMENT
When the war reached, with all its violence, the quiet village of Giuliano Teatino, the life of all its inhabitants was turned upside down. Being geographically located on a hill overlooking the valley that looked towards Ortona and Pescara, it assumed a strategic importance. The Germans and the allies exchanged shots with cannon fire, which in order to dig up the top of the hill almost touched the branches of the trees. Father told us that sometimes, when wandering through the countryside he was near the hill of Castellara he heard the ogives approaching hissing and cutting the tops of the trees, and he would crouch down on the ground.
And at a certain point Giuliano's life became impossible. And the order came to evacuate the country, forcing the entire population to abandon their homes with everything they contained, being able to take with them only a small luggage with essential things. The destination decided by the Germans for my grandparents' family was Teramo. Everyone had to make do in order to reach the assigned destination. Father told us that on the day of abandonment of the country, a German officer, seeing Donna Annina in difficulty, given her size and physical condition, made her get on a military truck, thus saving her the inhuman fatigue of such a long journey. .
In Teramo the family reunited, finding a home in an apartment on the top floor in an attic overlooking Via del Corso, on the side of the square. My uncle Pierino and Armando lived in this little apartment, hiding to escape the roundups of the Germans. One evening they risked being discovered in a rather adventurous odo. In fact, in the evenings Donna Annina had decided to prepare the fettuccine and had started to roll out the dough with a rolling pin. But the table, remedied who knows how, was old and wobbled and made noise having a shorter leg than the others that beat rhythmically on the floor. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, there was a German command just downstairs. AND FOR EVERY PARTY BY FORGING THE WHOLE POPULATION TO ABANDON EVERYTHING, TAKING ONLY FOUR THINGS WITH THEM, upsetting everyone's life
Today, on a Sunday at the end of August 2021, actually very cold and windy (it seemed impossible after the 40 degrees of the past few days), we went to the Cemetery with Mom and
LA FUGA
Coci', come volle il destino, i miei decisero di scappare di nascosto da Teramo per andare a Giuliano Teatino, in bicicletta! In un paese devastato dalla guerra, senza strade sicure, senza ponti, ma il loro amore fu cosi' forte che superarono tutte le difficolta'. Partirono da teramo il 22 Luglioed il 24 Luglio, il giorno di Sant'Anna, dopo una sosta a ... ed una a Chieti, giunsero finalmente a Giuliano teatino.
Mamma, pur non avendo detto niente ai suoi, si era preoccupata di lasciare un biglietto in cui spiegava cosa aveva fatto e dove era andata, e lo aveva lasciato piegato ben bene nel libricino di preghiere che ogni sera Nonna Maria (chiamata Marietta) soleva leggere prima di coricarsi.
Ma quel giorno figuratevi il trambusto nel non vedere rientrare la propra figlia; chissa' cosa sara' successo, era tempo di guerra! Ed il libricino delle preghiere quella sera non venne aperto! E chissa' quando i genitori vennero a conoscenza del fatto!
SI VA IN RUSSIA !
Anche quello che sto per raccontarvi, come vedrete, e' stato un altro segno del destino! Quando e' scoppiata la guerra mondiale ( Il pomeriggio del 10 giugno 1940, con un discorso a Piazza Venezia, Mussolini dichiara che l'Italia sarebbe entrata in guerra) anche babbo allora poco piu' che ventenne, fu arruolato nell'esercito italiano. Ma quando vennero definite le destinazioni, babbo scopri' che la sua destinazione era quella del contingente destinato ad invadere la Russia! Pensate come gli si dovette stringere il cuore. Ma, ancora una volta, il destino si mise in mezzo per cambiargli la vita!
Infatti un suo compagno, destinato invece a prestare servizio in un campo di prigionia nei pressi di Popoli, gli fece questa proposta: "Senti Francesco, io vglio fare carriera nell'esercito, ma in un campo di prigionia che speranze ho? Invece se potessi andare in Russia e mettermi in mostra potrei avere piu' occasioni per avere qualche promozione. Allora perche' non ci scambiamo, ed io vado in Russia e tu nel campo di prigionia?" Detto fatto, babbo non se lo fece ridire due volte ed ottennero di scambiare la destinazione. Purtroppo dalla Russia della sua compagnia non torno' indietro nessuno. Morirono tutti! E babbo si salvo'.
OUR CHAPEL
Today, on a Sunday at the end of August 2021, actually very cold and windy (it seemed impossible after the 40 degrees of the past few days), we went to the Cemetery with Mom and my little brother Ezio, the three of us, to pay the affectionate homage to the our unforgettable Santa. The Chapel, just restored and with the photographs of all our loved ones who have left us still to be rearranged, welcomes us from the outside with a view full of poignant beauty between a strip of blue sea that can be glimpsed between the olive trees on one side and the mountains that stand out majestically on the other side, with the fig tree of ancient memory in the middle.
Upon returning from this "pilgrimage" of memory, I got out of the car parked in the open space at the top next to the vineyard of Nicolino Bassi (our neighbors at the end of the road on the left), Mom, going back in time to when our beautiful house is not yet there was, but they had just chosen the land, he told us that then here, on the hill, it was all an expanse of almond trees in bloom. And we almost had the impression of smelling it, imagining how beautiful the countryside must have been, now transformed into asphalt and houses. Yet it still remains a beautiful place today, where you can breathe a special, almost magical atmosphere, with the view of the blue sea on clear days. ​
.
A DAY AT THE END OF AUGUST
Today, one day at the end of August 2012, we unfortunately decided to throw away some old coe, trying to put some order in the garage and cellar. We had never done it ... we pulled out a mountain of plastic, iron, cardboard and .. old memories come back to light as if it were an archaeological excavation that projects us towards a never forgotten past. As if by magic, a track of toy cars came to light, the bicycle with which mum came from Teramo to Giuliano in 1944, together with Father also on a bicycle, the order trunk of the Sergeant Major coming from the Gothic line. I saved the bike, everything else, along with mattresses, sofa skeletons, and more was loaded into Ali's van and thrown away.
During this cleanup the "dear boy" passed and so we began to remember episodes of the past .. And of this conversation, in which we talked about Cascione and his bar, about ...., about Toto ' , of Camillo the baker, of the son ... etc, I have kept a recording on file .. Sunday at the end of August 2021 in truth very cold and windy (it seemed impossible after 40 degrees of the last few days), we went to the Cemetery with Mom and my little brother Ezio, the three of us, to pay the affectionate homage to our unforgettable Santa. The Chapel, just restored and with the photographs of all our loved ones who have left us still to be rearranged, welcomes us from the outside with a view full of poignant beauty between a strip of blue sea that can be glimpsed between the olive trees on one side and the mountains that stand out majestically on the other side, with the fig tree of ancient memory in the middle.
Upon returning from this "pilgrimage" of memory, I got out of the car parked in the open space at the top next to the vineyard of Nicolino Bassi (our neighbors at the end of the road on the left), Mom, going back in time to when our beautiful house is not yet there was, but they had just chosen the land, he told us that then here, on the hill, it was all an expanse of almond trees in bloom. And we almost had the impression of smelling it, imagining how beautiful the countryside must have been, now transformed into asphalt and houses. Yet it still remains a beautiful place today, where you can breathe a special, almost magical atmosphere, with the view of the blue sea on clear days. ​
.
La biciletta di mamma
Come doveva essere bella!
Quel che resta della bella bici di mamma usata nel Luglio del '44 per andare da Teramo a Giuliano insieme a babbo
Si puo' notare lo stemma dei Fascio Littorio
sulla canna
Mamma 1944
