In those years it was a difficult and demanding travel; it taked two days to get there in fact the highway from Naples ended at Padua exit and from there you are forced to use the Statal.street, full of trucks and lorries so you had to be very carefull.

We were five: dad, mum, my brother and my sister teenagers, and myself: five years old. We travelled with our white 1500 Fiat full of suitcases, bags, bikes and other bags on the roof of the car so we could not drive really fast. My uncle found us one house to sleep and on a rainy day of August we leave. We slept one night in Padua and arrived at San Sigismondo the day after. At first it was not easy; we couldn’t find the house and nobody spoke italian…so my uncle came  and showed us the way. Our landlady rent us a couple of rooms with kitchen at the first floor of her house; she knew my uncle that’s why she accepted us  but since that day the reciprocal esteem and affection grew day by day and now she is like a grandmother to me. It was an hard time, in the village there were not many comforts and even from the political point of view it was difficult. The "Sud Tirolo" political atmosphere was not quite easy. Nevertheless we had no problem with the people and we bacame part of the „family“. We were used to lunch in a sort of Hotel-Restaurant, sited along the Statal street which was reachable walking along a beautiful path across the fields. Todays that Hotel-restaurant is closed but it was the place where I spent wonderfull days and it was the witness of my growing up: games, jokes, fights with my friends. The first years it was no a tourist village at all, but we enjoyed the excursions in those beautiful places and the local products such as: milk, butter, honey, jam, mushrooms, smoke ham…and many others. We bought them directly in the „Masi“ where they were produced only for domestic use. I remember that the tv set received only the national channel RAI, the electricity was provided only by a little power station and the streets were no good at all. But we were happy and tranquil so we did not feel the lack of anything. We often went to pick up mushrooms and so we bought the right boots, trousers, sweaters so that so that we look like real Tirolese people. Since then many years have passed but I always came back to San Sigismondo with my family, my parents, my friends and then my wife. I have many friends there and even if some of them have moved away…I think they are still with me. I always come back to San Sigismondo with joy to see my friends and my foster grandmother.

Written by: Flavio Boccagna

English Version:

Chiara Favoni Miccoli

Giulia Cricca