The Story of Italian Sisters: Dora Sessa Aurunca Is a Town and Comune of Campania, Italy, in and Margherita Mackin - with the Province of Caserta
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The story of Italian Sisters: Dora Sessa Aurunca is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, in and Margherita Mackin - with the province of Caserta. It located on the south west slope references to Velia Campbell, (all of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina, 40 km by rail nee Ricciardo). west north west of Caserta and 30 km east of Formia. It is situated on the site of the Dora - ancient town, Suessa Aurunca, near the river Garigliano. The hill on which Sessa lies is a mass I was born on the 22 August, 1929, of volcanic tuff. in a village called Avezzano about one and a half miles from Sessa Aurunca. The village is under a mountain, called Massico, and near the sea, about 40 miles from Naples. There are 36 small villages around Sessa Aurunca in the Campania region. My father had been the only My dad, Guiseppe, aged 21 years, in 1920. person in our village (and many of The olive tree, is an evergreen the other villages) who had never tree or shrub native to the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa. worked for someone else. He It is short and squat, and rarely exceeds 8–15 m in height. worked over a wide area visiting However, a unique variety comprising 40,000 trees found other villages and assessing the only in a small area of the Campania region of southern value of their olive and grape Italy often exceeds this, with correspondingly large trunk crops. diameters. The silvery green leaves are oblong, the trunk is typically gnarled and twisted. He also owned fields that grew Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural olives and grapes and with the importance in the Mediterranean region as the people he employed to farm these source of olive oil. Olives are harvested in the green to crops he followed the system purple stage. 1 known as Mezzadria (half and half) A 1920 English account of the Mezzadria System in Italy staes where the profits from the crops - on almost every estate is established the system of were shared between the land mezzadria, a division of labour and capital which arouses in the owner and those planting and contadini, as part-proprietor, a genuine interest in crops and harvesting the crops. In my dad’s cattle. Every estate worked upon the mezzadria plan is case he only took one third of the divided into various farms or poderes. Upon each podere profits. My dad had purchased an stands a house, stables, and outbuildings, all provided by electric machine to grind the olives the padrone, and for the use of these and the land the contadino gives his work, so before pressing these. I remember that a farm is often handed down from father to son, from that it was 1935 when my village one generation to another, and the peasant learns to love the got electricity. In those days only land he cultivates as something of his own. the black olives were used and Traditional Olive Pressing. pressed for the production of virgin olive oil. We had to wait until the ripe fruit had fallen to the ground. Dad’s business also used the harvested grasses or stramma that The fruit of the olive tree, also grew in abundance on the called the olive, is the source mountain side. The smaller bushes of olive oil. and narrow stalks were used for basket and rope making and the larger bushes, with wide stalks, were used for mattress filling. The stramma for basket making was beaten with a tool like a large rolling pin, a mazzuco, to soften it An early electric press of the kind used by Guiseppe. 2 and this stramma was also pulled The Stramma Plant. into twine and plaited for rope making. My dad was able to use the electric olive press to process the larger stramma stalks. These larger stalks were combed first in a The Stramma, or Ampelodesmus plant, is usually machine, twisted and then dried in found in dry areas near the coast and is common on the the sun. After drying they were arid terraces of Italy. It requires dry or moist soil and cannot pressed electrically to soften them grow in the shade. It has strong leaves up to 1 metre long and and form the filling for mattresses. 7mm wide, these leaves are coarse and sharp. The Stramma We made a box to feed these ropes can be collected at any time during the year. During the collection the fibres are bound into the press and they came out up (they are called fasce de stramma) and then they need as bales. The roof top of our house to be dried before the manufacturing process. When was used to dry the rope. A large the fibres are dried the stramma is beaten to be wagon came to our house every softened. fortnight to collect the processed Stramma Leaves were also considered a good mattress- bales. filler, while reeds, bracken or seaweed were suitable choices in some regions. The Roman All my family worked inside to help writer Pliny reported that spartum or esparto grass was with this part of dad’s business. used in Spain 2000 years ago, and this continued into the We were the only family that did 19th century. not work for other people. My dad A simple sack, called a tick, is all that most mattress covers have was affectionately known as Don ever been. Canvas woven from hemp, also called ‘hurden’ or Peppino by the local people. tow, was a likely choice for the tick before machine-woven cottons took over. Sadly, another man who had been Dora recalls that these dad’s competitor for some time, mattresses had a life of only 3 or 4 months before losing their eventually talked him into going softness. 3 into partnership, but this man later Italy's involvement in World War II as a member of the Axis cheated my dad. My dad had powers required the establishment of a war agreed to his new partner keeping economy. This put severe strain on the corporatist economic the books for the business and, model applied by Mussolini, since the war quickly started unknown to dad, he had bought a going badly for Italy and it became difficult for the shop and a house in his wife’s government to persuade business leaders to finance name. As a result, at the end of a what they saw as a military disaster. The Allied invasion of bad season for crops, there was no Italy in 1943 caused the Italian political structure - and the economy - to rapidly collapse. money in the business to pay bills The Allies, on the one hand, and the Germans on the other, took or debts. over the administration of the areas of Italy under their control. By the end of the war, My dad had to sell fields to pay the Italian economy had been all but destroyed; per capita bills for all the farmers and to help income in 1944 was at its lowest point since the pay some of the overdrafts. Also beginning of the 20th century. the use of stramma for mattress The Italian economy had very variable growth in the 1950s filling was dying out rapidly as new and early 1960s. In Italy, state economic intervention was materials began to be produced for delayed. It began during the 1950s and was not fully this purpose. It broke my dad’s achieved until the 1960s under the centre left governments. heart when his children then There is a question as to whether or not a mixed sought work overseas to support economy in a Western European country like Italy was the family. connected to the goal of establishing a consensus policy by the political elites. What is I was one of 9 children, one of clear is that unemployment was high in this period – whom died in 1939. I had little especially in southern Italy. memory of the Second World War, Dora’s limited recollection of the war shows both that other than a memory of the children are often less affected by world events than is celebrations when the armistice expected by adults and that her parents had been able to retain was agreed in 1943. In those days, normality in the lives of their children. 4 no –one bought ready-made Scauria Beach, Italy clothes. Everyone bought material and all clothes were hand-made. We had a lovely childhood in many ways. Every July and August, until Italy's involvement in World 1943, the family rented an War II as a member of the Axis powers required the apartment in Scauria, where we establishment of a war economy. This put severe strain also had a cabin on the beach to on the economy and it became difficult for the government to get changed in. Our cabin was persuade business leaders to finance what they saw as a numbered five – the same number military disaster. as our house – so that we children The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 caused the Italian political would easily recognise this structure - and the economy - to rapidly collapse. The Allies number. took over the administration of the areas of Italy under their control. By the end of the war, All the family worked for my dad the Italian economy had been all but destroyed; per capita and we employed other people but income in 1944 was at its lowest point since the after my dad went bankrupt in beginning of the 20th century.