25 April April 25 in Umbertide means more things. Joy and pain, death and liberation ... 1944 with the bombing; the 1945 liberation. The first, ours, you can deepen with the pages of Alvaro Tacchini on "the Atlas of memory " with the contextualization of the events that our people underwent when they crossed the front in April 1944; in Fabio Mariotti's " Paths of Memory ", one can relive the pain of an entire community that will count 70 victims; with the "V oci della memoria " it will be possible to enter in an attempt to keep the memory of the people who lost their lives that day. April 25, 1944: The bombing of Borgo San Giovanni and the death of 70 fellow citizens (edited by Fabio Mariotti) Twelve British Curtiss P - 40 Kittyhawk aircraft departed from the Cutella field airport in Puglia to destroy the road bridge over the Tiber and make it more difficult for the Germans to retreat. It was April 25, 1944. A date that the people of Umbria will not forget. Between 9 and 9.30 the allied squadron flew the sky over Umbertide, with its load of two large-caliber bombs per plane (altogether about 4 tons of explosives ). After several vaults above Romeggio, the planes headed towards Serra Partucci, in favor of the sun, from which they swooped down towards the bridge over the Tiber. But the bombs (as Roberto Sciurpa wrote in his volume “Umbertide in the 20th century 1900 - 1946, from which this information is taken) were not yet“ intelligent ”(if ever there will be intelligent bombs) and they often missed the target. This unfortunately also happened to Umbertide. The bombs, dropped at regular intervals of about 30 seconds between one couple and the other, instead of hitting the bridge, all but two ended up on the houses in the historic center. It was a massacre. 70 people, including 46 women, were buried under the rubble. This is war. These are what today they call "side effects" that always and inexorably affect civilians, the most defenseless people. To avoid even these effects, there is only one universal system, stop wars and always work for peace. La ricostruzione video de "Il nostro Calvario" Presentiamo un estratto video, su gentile concessione di Mario Tosti, dal DVD “L’alba della libertà” realizzato nel 2004 dall’Istituto di storia politica sociale Venanzio Capriotti e dal Centro socio culturale San Francesco di Umbertide, in occasione del 60º anniversario della liberazione dell’alta Valle del Tevere , luglio 1944. Progetto diviso in quattro parti: la prima, che mostriamo come estratto nel nostro video, si intitola “Il nostro calvario. Il bombardamento di un paese inerme“; le altre parti del Dvd erano “Passaggi del tempo" sulla liberazione di Umbertide, “Mutazioni” sulla liberazione di Città di Castello ed infine “La bomba intelligente. la bonifica di una bomba inesplosa dopo sessant’anni di letargo” ritrovata sul greto del Tevere ad Umbertide. Le immagini storiche sono tratte dal libro “il nostro calvario di Mario Tosti. Le scene dal vivo invece sono tratte dalla rievocazione “l’ultima ora“ di Giampiero Frondini; le voci dei testimoni erano state registrate nel 1984. Voce narrante Luciano Bettucci, animazioni Valerio Rosi. Il progetto Ottant'anni Nel 2024 è nato il progetto "Ottant'anni", con una pagina completamente dedicata al ricordo della tragedia per eccellenza umbertidese. Progetto a cura di Mario Tosti, Unitre di Umbertide, il Centro Culturale San Francesco, con il Patrocinio del Comune di Umbertide. Realizzato con la collaborazione di Corrado Baldoni, Mario Bani, Serio Bargelli, Federico Ciarabelli, Francesco Deplanu, Sergio Magrini Alunno, Massimo Pascolini, Antonio Renzini, Luca Silvioni, Pietro Taverniti, Romano Viti. Cliccando qua di seguito si aprirà la pagina completa dedicata al 1944 e quella in divenire, mese per mese, del 1945 : Questa sotto è la pagina dell'opuscolo realizzato per portare la memoria nelle scuole superiori di Umbertide ed è stato realizzato da Antonio Renzini; cliccandola si torna alla Home del sito dove si può procedere anche qua mese per mese dal 1944 al 1945 nella nostra storia. The atlas of the Memory v to the page THE Routes of Memory v to the page Voices of Memori a go to page And then the other 25 April, that of 1945 with the liberation and the end of the war, a national event that is celebrated throughout Italy. Liberation that occurred in a broader military context connected with the front of Eastern Europe and the "French" one: on 25 April with "Elba day" they united. The release with the actions of the CLNAI can be explored with the link to "April 25, 1945" on the site dedicated by RaiCultura. At the same time American and Soviet troops joined at Torgau on the Elbe River. The action revealed the end of the Nazi system which occurred a few days later with the Battle of Berlin, giving the sensation of an ephemeral concord that was in reality only military. By following the link you can reach an in-depth page on Elbe Day. April 25, 1945 - 2020: Seventy-five years from the Liberation (edited by Fabio Mariotti) April 25, 1945 is the day on which the Upper Italy National Liberation Committee (CLNAI) - whose command was based in Milan and was chaired by Alfredo Pizzoni, Luigi Longo, Emilio Sereni, Sandro Pertini and Leo Valiani (present among others the president designate Rodolfo Morandi, Giustino Arpesani and Achille Marazza) - proclaimed a general insurrection in all the territories still occupied by the Nazi-fascists, indicating to all the partisan forces active in Northern Italy that are part of the Volunteer Corps of Freedom to attack the fascist presidia and Germans by imposing surrender, days before the arrival of the allied troops; at the same time, CLNAI personally issued legislative decrees, assuming power "in the name of the Italian people and as a delegate of the Italian Government". Since then April 25 has been a national holiday, the anniversary of the liberation of Italy. It is in fact a fundamental day for the history of Italy as a symbol of the victorious struggle of military and political resistance carried out by the allied armed forces, the Italian Cobelligerant Army and the partisan forces during the Second World War starting from 8 September 1943 against the fascist government of the Italian Social Republic and the Nazi occupation. 25 aprile 1945 April 25, 1945 v to the external page Elbe Day v to the external page Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

La Baca La Baca is not the Halloween pumpkin. The "grandparents" of Umberto I and the neighboring countryside still remember how for the day of the dead the tradition was to carve the pumpkin in an anthropomorphic form and insert a candle inside on the night between the first and the second of November. The Anglo-Saxon tradition of Halloween for the day of the Saints has replaced also the memory of this Umbertidese custom. We are looking for anecdotes, photos and memories to "bring it back" to memory. Most likely making the "baca" is not an imported or revived "young" tradition from the Anglo-Saxon one because there are analogous ancient traditions of the use of the pumpkin, with a similar function and in the same period, in other parts of Italy. For example, we mention the tradition of the " Fucacoste and Cocce Priatorje " of the town of Orsara di Puglia. " bonfire and heads of Purgatory ". In all the streets of the town of Orsara we read on the site of the " Italian network of popular culture " on the 2nd of November " There is a burning sheaf and hanging anthropomorphic pumpkins. This is not Halloween, but an event that highlights the memory of the deceased. The characterizing element is the broom, a shrub that easily evaporates in flames, symbolizing the bond heaven-earth to our eyes. It is the belief that the souls of the deceased, returning to the living, visit relatives and return to their earthly homes, get warm and continue their wanderings throughout the night. The lit pumpkin would indicate to the deceased the house where he lived. In honor of the dead, poor but symbolic foods are eaten. ". Similarly happened in Sardinia: the pumpkin, "sa crocoriga", carved was the “Sa conca 'e mortu” and was exhibited on the night of November 1st, “in notte de su primu de donniassantu”. In short, this too is one of the traditional aspects that we intend to investigate ... always with your help! Sources: - https://www.immediato.net/2019/10/29/orsara-fucacoste-e-cocce-priatorje-su-rai-3-e-tra-le-tradizioni-piu-spettacolari-ditalia/ - https://www.reteitalianaculturapopolare.org/ar/home-page- archive /item/1008-gabinovia.html - https://pipius.com/sa-crocoriga-halloween-sardegna/ - https://pipius.com/sa-crocoriga-halloween-sardegna/ - https://www.famedisud.it/i-riti-dautunno-dedicati-ai-morti-e-le-zucche-intagliate-in-sardegna/ Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

THE STORY OF ALESSANDRO GRELLI Fallen in 1938 in the Spanish war From the book by Maria E. Menichetti Bianchi "Alessandro Grelli - An anti-fascist who fell in the Spanish war (1936 - 39)" Municipality of Umbertide - San Francesco Social Cultural Center Nuova PRHOMOS Editions - April 1990 THE FOUND SYMBOL Thanks to the National Literary Prize "Umbertide 25 aprile", another precious piece has been added this year to the history of our city and our people. In fact, a historical research on Alessandro Grelli, a Umbertidese of humble origins and noble sentiments, a volunteer of the International Brigades, who fell on the Ebro front in September 1938, while fighting against the threat of fascism which, within two years, would shock the whole world with the Second World War. We therefore believe, by publishing the research, that we are fulfilling a civic duty, which we perform with great pleasure and with legitimate pride, in order to draw greater attention to this writing which removes a name from a corner of the atrium of the town hall and finally gives it a face and a human dimension. The careful work of Prof. Maria Ernesta Menichetti Bianchi offers the opportunity to see the life and political path of our heroic and unknown fellow citizen reconstructed in a passionate and intelligent research punctually marked by references to interesting archive documents. While we take note, with great pleasure, of the positive evaluation given to this work by the Commission of the Award and of the equally authoritative judgment expressed by Prof. Luciana Brunelli of the Institute for the History of Umbria, we express our deepest appreciation and thanks to the Author. She has given back to the light of knowledge the civil and political figure of the peasant-shoemaker of Romeggio, whose supreme sacrifice had been relegated to the cold memory of a commemorative plaque. Alessandro Grelli, on the other hand, deserves to be remembered with warmer signs for the teaching he gave us with his short life, but no less rich in ideals. He represents the revolt of the poor. The revolt of emigrants for work reasons who, in contact with previously unknown realities, arrive through political convictions to the concept of freedom, for which they do not hesitate, if necessary, to sacrifice their own existence. The names of the Heroes are kept in the memory of their homelands to be pointed out, especially to young people who, opening up to life, need sure points of reference, witnessed truths, which enhance the spirit and make them aware of the priceless gift that Grelli, and many others like him have given us by bringing freedom back to our country. Freedom to love and to defend as the most expensive good that man can ever possess. Umbertide, April 1990 MAURIZIO ROSI Mayor of Umbertide RAFFAELE MANCINI President of the Socio-Cultural Center PRESENTATION If it is true, as Broué and Témine write, that "the intervention of foreign troops in favor of the Spanish republic, the aid brought in from abroad was, in the final analysis, only the sum of a series of individual contributions" , then this work by Nini Menichetti on Alessandro Grelli represents a precious contribution to the knowledge and reflection on that extraordinary political, social and cultural phenomenon that was the international volunteering in support of the Spanish republicans. The interest of local scholars had hitherto been mainly directed to the most well-known characters of Umbrian anti-fascism - Mario Angeloni, Armando Fedeli, Carlo Farini, Leonida Mastrodicasa -, men who had a prominent role in the Spanish civil war and who were subsequently protagonists ( Farini and Fedeli) of the Resistance and Umbrian political life. Turning attention to the "minor" figures of the voluntary sector - which were numerous, about 80 Umbrian militiamen -, the emphasis inevitably shifts from the political aspects of the civil war to the more specifically social ones, connected to the exile and emigration of the years twenty and thirty, to the life of emigrants abroad, especially in that triangle of land that goes from France to Belgium to Luxembourg. Still recently, historical and literary studies have underlined the importance of the 1930s in European political and cultural history, and in particular the originality of the French experience, a crossroads for masses of men, a melting pot of ideas and hopes during the exciting period of the Popular Front government chaired by Léon Blum. Alessandro Grelli was one of those men, whose life refers, as a prelude to his departure as a volunteer, to the great events and great movements within which motivations, ideas and ideals matured that brought thousands of men to fight and die in Spain. The patient and intelligent work of Nini Menichetti consists precisely in weaving with very thin threads the weft of a life apparently without history, marked almost only by the fact that it ended in September of '38 fighting on the Ebro in Spain. It was not an easy search, in the shortage of documents and testimonies, in the poverty and partisanship of official sources. Little or nothing is known about Alessandro, his relatives and the village hardly remember him, the files in his name at the Perugia Police Headquarters and at the Central Political Casellario are too poor in information, even the plaque in his memory is inaccurate. And then, in this situation, the author opens a dialogue, begins to question men and materials - the brothers, the papers, the photographs, the former Garibaldians - and finds a path, or rather many paths that from the sharecropping life of the Umbertidese in the 1920s they lead it to Alexander's death in Spain. Thus the research takes place along various paths - from the State Archives of Perugia to that of La Spezia to that of Salamanca - and, through forays into the lives of others, Grelli's life is also filled with events and characters. Characters who were protagonists of his "sentimental upbringing" - the landowner Ramaccioni, Aldina, the Communist Bertieri - or who shared emigration and the myth of Spain with him. The rich apparatus of notes to the text shows us the many directions in which the research has opened and the multiplicity of materials necessary to approach the story of Alexander. Even those who have not directly measured themselves with the difficulties of historical research on the Spanish war, will be able to appreciate the complexity of the work, deriving not only from the limits of the official sources but also from those particular historical circumstances that require listening to many materials, of many and different stories and memories. Grelli's life unfolds along a path that belonged to many of those who went to fight in Spain: the passage from the peasant condition to the hard experience of emigration, which was both defeat and emancipation, certainly was awareness, encounter, communication. , discovery. It must have been all this if - according to official papers -, emigrated in '30 with "attitudes in favor of the regime", in 1937 he had become "a dangerous Communist subversive". In Saint Laurent du Var in the Maritime Alps, a privileged destination for Umbrian emigration, Alessandro, together with the various fellow villagers who converged there, lived the decisive years of his training before leaving for Spain. Among the Umbrian antifascists who volunteered, the largest group is made up of men originating from the Umbertide-Città di Castello area, peasants who became cobblers, carpenters, bricklayers or even laborers in the gardens of southern France. The police reports themselves, through the dense network of informers of the regime, give us ample documentation of the solidarity towards the Spanish republicans which soon matured in emigration groups and in anti-fascist circles abroad. In following the history of these and Grelli, the work of Nini Menichetti, while also making us reflect on the different languages and the different attitudes that transpire from the official sources, fully gives us the sense of the drama and of the ideals that moved the men who, between '36 and '38, they went to fight and die in Spain. LUCIANA BRUNELLI Institute for the History of Umbria PREMISE The years of anti-fascism, before and after 1926, and beyond, and of the Resistance, before and after 1943, were objects of study in historical works of a general nature, and in local or regional works, the latter useful. to bring movements and ideas of the past closer to the reality of the present, since they give voice and face to characters, sometimes just mentioned in the first ones, whose memory could be lost in the historical consciousness of today and of the future. We have traced the story of ALESSANDRO GRELLI, precisely to save him from this fate. A "red militiaman" - nice qualification on the Franco side! - born in Umbertide in 1907, died in 1938, fighting on the Ebro. One of those anti-fascists who had volunteered to defend the young Spanish republic, having identified in Francisco Franco's plan the primary objective of defeating it, and the implicit purpose of launching an attack on anti-fascism, not only in Spain in the late 1930s. , but in the broader sphere of European and international politics. The difficulties encountered in our research are evident from the subtle web of news, documents, information, which we have been able to access, which we give, schematically, below: a - what memory of Alessandro Grelli are preserved in his hometown, his family, historical texts, the local press; b - what information we have drawn from other sources, some of which have been consulted to no avail; c - what news did the ex-Garibaldini of Spain, still alive, give us. a - The Municipality of Umbertide keeps in the Registry the certification relating to the birth, the military conscription and the presumed death certificate. But he did not register any repatriations from France, which there were. He entitled - we do not know on what date - in a suburban district, a street after his name, whose toponymic plaque does not offer the reader either a date or a historical reference. He posted, on behalf of some citizens residing abroad, - we do not know on what date - a plaque in the hall of the municipal residence, with the following dedication: To Alessandro Grelli fallen fighting for the freedom of the Spanish people The Umbertidesi democrats residing in Nice - Anti-Franco War 1936-1937 (1) The historical archive of Umbertide has a material, poured there from various and interesting parts, not cataloged. Two of Alessandro's brothers live in Umbertide, one of whom is just two years younger, Angelo born in 1926. They do not keep correspondence from France or Spain, which also came, at least from France, as is documented (2). They do not keep the memory of a name of one of those who temporarily repatriated brought them news, or of who brought them the saddest news. Among their scant and meager memories there are, however, some details that illuminated one or two points in Alessandro's life, up to 1933, the year of their mother's death. From that date on, the brothers have learned unpublished news and unknown to them, which we have gathered from the consultation of the file on the Grelli of the Perugia Police Headquarters and of the CPC file that the Ministry of the Interior has been forming, as soon as the political police realized that Alessandro was carrying out anti-fascist activities, and from the research we carried out, according to the itinerary of his stay abroad. Rometti Clotide's historical work (3) dates back to 1954, citing Grelli among the Umbrians who fell in the Spanish War. He mentions him as Achille Grelli, that is, the nickname he brought from home and town (4) and which appears in a single official document, long after his death. Among the memoirs written by veterans from Spain, only the exhaustive work of the Garibaldian Giacomo Calandrone (5) mentions the name of Alessandro Grelli among those who died in the bloody days of the offensive on the Ebro, in a very numerous list. The vintages of "The Claim", a large-format four-page weekly (6), founded by the socialists in 1902, in Città di Castello, suppressed by fascism in 1921, offered material for the reconstruction of the historical and political context of Upper Tiber Valley, where the birthplace of Grelli stands. b - The fundamental and irreplaceable source for our research is constituted by the archives, of which we give a list, which respects the significance, from a historical point of view, of the documents coming from them: - Central State Archives and State Archives of Perugia which preserve the first file of the Central Political Casellario on Alessandro Grelli and many of his friends and acquaintances (7), the second the file of the Perugia Police Headquarters; - State Archives of La Spezia which preserves the documentation of an exile from Sarzana whom Grelli met in France and whose political activity carried out even before emigration in La Spezia (8); - Current archives of the Provincial Directorate of the Treasury of Perugia, and of the Directorate General of the Treasury of Rome which have provided the complete dossier of the pension procedure authorized to Abramo Grelli for the death in combat of his son, which contains the exclusive documentation of the circumstances of the death of Alexander (9); - Archive of the AICVAS which does not have relevant historical and documentary material, as occurs for the Archive of the Regional Institute of the Resistance of Bologna (10), in which the former Garibaldi Brotherhood of Spain has poured its material, when it merged into AICVAS; - Archivo Historico Nacional, Seccion Guerra Civil, Salamanca wanted by Franco in the 40s, responds to the desire to document the participation of Spain in the defeat of the Republic with particular emphasis on high military ranks and exclusion of low military roles, and, obviously, neglecting the presence of those who were considered the "red killers". However, the material stored in Sect. of the Civil War is so large (n.5598 very consistent dossiers (carpetas)) and flanked by inventories that refer region by region to the places where the Francoist front was present and moved, that it would deserve a prolonged examination, not experienced by us, also a little discouraged by the assurances of the Archive staff, who have been helpful and generous with us, and whom we warmly thank here, in the people of Maria Pilar Raulì Lopez and Gregorio Redondo. They, while accompanying us in our research, told us "esto senor no tenemo nada" (11). We quote, in alphabetical order, the sources consulted to no avail: - ANPI, General Committee of Bologna (Archive); Current archives of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense (12); - École Frangaise, Rome; - Mairie de Saint-Laurent du Var, Alpes Maritimes (France); c - We had the opportunity to meet the ex-Garibaldini of Spain still alive (13) by participating in "Jornades internacionales por la Pau y la Libertat y la Democracia, 1938-1988", organized by the Catalan Coordinadora d'associations de ex combatentes de la Repubblica and which took place in Barcelona on 28, 29, 30 October 1988. We asked many present, who were almost seven hundred, - French, Spanish, Americans, Belgians, Irish, English, Jews of various nationalities, etc. - news from Grelli. Nobody knew him, nobody remembers him. The Italian fighters on the Ebro do not remember him and neither does Ferrer Visentini who, in the form compiled by the former Garibaldini Brotherhood of Spain, is indicated as the one who "denounces" the death of Grelli, together with family members. From the years following the end of the war to 1942, the Ossuary Tower of Zaragoza-Casa degli Italiani collects the remains of all those who died in Spain. By virtue of this homologation between anti-Francoists and Francoists, on which we do not allow, there are the names of the fallen of the International Brigades, including that of Alessandro Grelli, who here has his plate marked with a lowercase BI (14). In the cemetery of Fuencarall, in Madrid, a large plaque, discovered only in 1986, commemorates the fallen anti-Francoists, with the following inscription: "Volunteers of the International Brigades, fallen as heroes, for the freedom of the Spanish people, the prosperity and well-being of 'Humanity". In October 1988, on the aforementioned occasion, the "David y Goliat" monument to the memory of the fallen belonging to the BI ranks was discovered in Barcelona in the presence of the BI volunteers, gathered from all the countries. The monument was donated by the SCWHS. We wait for the municipality of Umbertide to complete the toponymy plaque headed to Grelli, specifying: "Red militiaman, who fell as an anti-fascist on the Ebro front, September 1938", as a reminder to remember a protagonist of a historical period and an idea not to be archived. Note: (1) The only date indicated on the tombstone is wrong. In fact, the anti-Franco war ended in 1939. The dates of the death of the fallen and the posting of the plaque are missing, certainly after 2 June 1948, given the presence of the coat of arms of the Italian Republic that frames the plaque. (2) ASP, Inv. Quest. fasc. Grelli Alessandro. The CCRR of Città di Castello affirm this in 1938. (3) ROMETTI CLOTIDE, Sixty years of Socialism in Upper Umbria and Italy, Città di Castello, Il Solco, 1954, p. 132. (4) It was not the "battle name", but the nickname he bore from Romeggio, clearly remembered by his younger brother, Angelo, who still today speaks of his brother with the nickname "Achillino". (5) CALANDRONE GIACOMO, Spain burns, Garibaldi Chronicles, 1st Edition, 1962. Consulted in the AICVAS library. (6) BCC, "The Claim", 1906-1921. (7) The CPC dossier of Grelli Alessandro in ACS is the one formed by Sect. I of the Ministry of the Interior Div. PS Affari Gen. Ris. The one kept in ASP is formed by the Perugia police headquarters. The ACS dossier is more interesting, because it offers material that does not appear in the file of the Perugia Police Headquarters, relating to the date of Grelli's departure for Spain, and other details. (8) ASLS, Leva Office Fund of the Municipality of Sarzana for the year 1892, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello registration number, 1912; ibid., Fondo Prefettura de La Spezia, Cabinet Series, envelope 7 file 16 "Report dated 17/6/1921 by the Official Deputy Commissioner of PS di Sarzana regarding the events that occurred on 12, 13 June 1921, on the occasion of the raid fascist of Sarzana, upon notification of 13 June by the Mayor and the Councilors Calderini and Bertieri. (9) We thank the Provincial Directorate of the Treasury of Perugia and the Directorate General of the Treasury of Rome, and we are pleased to have arrived, just in time to consult very important documents, for the purposes of this biography, before the expiry of the current archives. (10) IRB, sheet by Grelli Alessandro (Achille). It contains an inaccuracy relating to the paternity of Grelli (of Alberto, but of Abraham), and of his residence abroad (Nice, but St. Laurent du Var). Participation in the II Garibaldi Battalion is not completed by the indication of the Company. The death - according to the file - "is reported by Visentini and his family". We interviewed Ferrer Visentini - author of a beautiful memoir on the war in Spain - who does not remember meeting Alessandro Grelli. The family members were unable to "report" the death of their relative for two reasons: because they were unaware of the fate of Alexander, and because it was the former Garibaldi Brotherhood of Spain that gave them the news. We will talk later about the photographs that remain of Grelli, but we want to immediately realize that the photograph stored in the file we are talking about does not appear in the files, neither in ASP nor in ACS CPC. It is a mugshot, according to the rules dictated by the Circ. of the File Service, namely: a face photograph, a profile photograph and a three-quarter profile photograph. In fact, Grelli is portrayed here in this last pose, in a tie, in hair, and shows an age that must have slightly preceded his departure for Spain, which took place, as we will say, in 1936, when he was 29 years old. (11) Ministerio de Cultura, Archivo Historico Nacional, Seccion «Guerra civil», 37001 Salamanca (E). We share the pessimism on Grelli, but not for a research on the presence of BI, supported by some titles, which were quickly glimpsed in Salamanca, such as: «Milicia POUM»; "Regiment Milicia popular"; "Prisioneros"; "Secret service"; "Milicia los Comuneros"; "Army rojo" ("el Campesino"), etc. Other archives can be consulted in Valencia, in Castellon and mainly the "Archivo Historico Militar" in Madrid, the material of which refers mainly to the personnel of the armed forces, police and carabinieri who remained framed in the republican area, for the purpose of recognition of their service. (12) The current archives of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior should have kept the minutes of the "Interministerial Commission for the formation and reconstitution of death and birth certificates not drawn up or lost or destroyed by war ». It is this Commission that drew up the certificate of "presumed death" of Grelli, on 16 October 1957, deposited, according to the explicit declaration of the same Commission, in the aforementioned archives. All our research carried out through institutional and private channels was useless. (13) We interviewed Fucile Domenico, who is the only Umbrian Garibaldian still alive, on the verge of turning ninety. He remembers nothing of Grelli and the years of the Spanish War. He enjoys repetitively telling an anecdote, which refers to the circumstances of his enlistment. The Rifle, a little by convincing, a little by challenging, was able to encourage about forty men, Italian and French, to leave volunteers. Therefore the departure was commented, alluding to the surname of the leader, "The rifles are leaving"! (14) How aberrant this homologation was and still is, results from the thought of a visitor to the Torre Ossario in Zaragoza who "thanks the fallen for having given us forty years of happiness and peace, fighting Marxism". I. - THE LIFE OF ALESSANDRO GRELLI UNTIL THE EXPATRIATION Head of Alessandro Grelli's family was Abraham, born in Umbertide in 1878, where his parents had immigrated from Monte Tezio, married to Maria Ercolanelli, and died in 1957 (1). They had raised a large family, Maria and Abraham, an ordinary circumstance among the settlers, who thought of working arms rather than mouths to feed: Alessandro born on 27/10/1907 was the second child, preceded by Fenenne (1906) and followed by Giovanni (1909) and by Angelo (1921) living; followed by Adolfo (1923) and Gina (1926). Carlo and Sabina were born and died respectively in 1914 and 1919, the years of the Spanish. Abraham was a partial settler and went to work for the day, as a laborer, wherever he happened to be. He lived with his five brothers, who in turn, except one, had a wife and children, in the Parish of S. Giuliano di Umbertide, voc. Box no. 487, Frazione Romeggio, Villa Corradi, and subsequently, after the birth of Giovanni, he had moved to Villa Pantano, still in the same hamlet, where with the whole tribe, about thirty souls, he could enjoy a better income with a farm in thirty-five hectares, working and wooded altogether. These are not the data just mentioned, taken from the tax register, but learned from the brothers, Giovanni and Angelo, who gave us news, reported episodes and memories, which we will promptly report gradually. The Marquis Liborio Marignoli was the owner of those lands assigned to his ancestors, three centuries earlier, by the Spanish rulers, for military merits. Contact between the colonists and the marquis was neither direct nor frequent and everything was done by the farmer who demanded half of the harvest from the Grelli - wheat, maize, grapes, tobacco -. Furthermore, from the partial share of the settler, a percentage was removed for sowing, and for the fertilizer, estimated by Giovanni at around 30%, while the owner never punctually paid the money corresponding to half of the expenditure necessary for the threshing - wheat, corn, seeds - just as he never paid the money for verdigris and sulfur, in compensation for the manual labor that the settler took on. The master kept the animals, paid us the taxes, and the land taxes were his responsibility. Still in the 10s of the century, however, there was still discussion on the payment of cures for the diseases of animals and the serious dispute had not been concluded. According to Giovanni's estimate, the Romeggio farm produced 15 quintals of wheat per hectare, so he had 150 quintals left, enough for bread and cake, but the beans were necessary to supplement. The side dish - the pork belonged entirely to the owner - consisted of "cooked grass", cod, salty because it was cheaper, and herring. These foodstuffs, together with salt and sugar - oil was replaced by lard - were paid for in kind at the shop, mainly with eggs. In conclusion - Giovanni admits - we ate, but did not dress, evaluating the situation at the time with current parameters. The houses, even when they were discreet, were very bad - we read in the local newspapers of the time (2) - a bedroom, including that of the spouses, even housed four people, who, after the short vigils in front of the fire, stretched out on straw straws of maize leaves, placed on four wooden boards or on metal nets. In April 1911 the battle for the improvement of the Colonial Pacts, carried out by the League of Peasants, among which those of Lama had distinguished, still dealt with the "colonial accounts", which had been the banner of the historic strike of 1906 : that the accounts had to be cleared year by year; that "if the owner keeps part of the credit to secure the livestock" "the interest on the money withheld had to be paid to the farmer" (3). Abraham was illiterate, but he sent all his children to school, even the girls, up to the third grade, in the schools set up in the rural hamlets and then in Umbertide - an hour away, from the farm - where they could obtain the elementary school certificate (4 ). Alessandro, according to the personal data sheet (5), had done up to the third grade. However, the news provided by the Military District, that he had obtained the elementary license up to the 6th class, is reliable. In support of this, the testimony of his brother who says: "he was very good at school, he was a genius." At home - Giovanni continues - we never got a hint of what was being said outside or written in the newspapers; as, for example, we insinuate - that still in 1911 people were forced to become aware of their rights and not to follow the priest "the eternal enemy of those who work and produce", "who condemns the struggle of the peasants" and " it organizes the colonial circles "" to maintain the political dominion of the masters "(6). The Grellis had not listened to, and perhaps had not wanted to hear, these and other exhortations and had never been approached by the organizers of the Leagues and Cooperatives. They lived their lives with precise points of reference: work, necessary to live, and, at some time of the year, to survive; the call to arms, under the feared control of the Arma Station stationed in the village, the relations between the sexes, necessary to increase hands in the fields, for housekeeping, and, perhaps, for a wise and kind female presence; and, first of all, the parish priest, the church, of which the Grelli women, vestals of the most rigorous Catholic observance, - as John says - were devoted faithful. During his childhood, neither at home nor at school, he heard Alessandro talk about events and facts that will take weight in his adult life: some, such as the expulsion of Benito Mussolini, in 1914, from the Socialist Party, of which the local newspaper spoke. , they slip away because of his very tender age. But he was a little older when his father and his uncles Annibale and Natalino left for the war and he could have understood something about the dispute about the appropriateness of Italian intervention in the immense conflict, a dispute that, in reality, at home. Grelli, did not take place at all. Having become a teenager, he had no better opportunity to become aware of the news that reached Romeggio faded, on the occasion, for example, of the elections of 1921, preceded by an electoral campaign in which fascist violence had also been active in Umbria (7), or of serious events that took place in the nearby Perugia, so serious as to bring fascism to power. In 1924 he still did not have the right to vote, which he will never exercise, being that of 1924 the last electoral consultation authorized by the fascist dictatorship, which had it carried out under the surveillance of the MVSN soldiers, who presided over seats and favored fraud. For Alessandro, the days spent working in the fields and the winter evenings were endless. He could not be happy or satisfied with this life, with that "gang", "comrade", "cheerful", "expansive", "always in good humor, very healthy, very intelligent" temperament described by Angelo. He loved friends - Giovanni insists - he liked girls, he loved to dress well, but ... at least he never had a few cents in his pocket! Alessandro thought for himself to get out of this situation, giving proof of a transgressive will, this first time towards the owner, who, informed by the farmer, reluctantly saw Alessandro absent himself from the fields and go to the village to learn the trade of shoemaker in the shop of the "poor Giuliano", which he reached on foot in the suburb of Borgiacca on the outskirts of Umbertide. This first gesture of independence, very important in itself because it made him change his social status, will be followed by others, in Grelli's private and public life, around which we will have the opportunity to speak at length, and from which Alessandro is characterized as a nonconformist, a curious man eager for experience, courageous, even reckless. It will turn out that this is not a psychological interpretation of the character, but an evaluation of the character and his temperament, as transpired by events and concrete facts. The brothers tell us that, while working as a shoemaker, he had met Mr. Luigi Ramaccioni, owner of a large estate bordering that of the partial regime of the Grelli, older than twenty years, with whom he had formed a great friendship. Not an anti-fascist - Giovanni specifies - like those he will meet in France - we add - but a fascist, albeit a moderate one, neither relentless nor troubled. In our opinion, the passage of the biographical notes drawn up by the CCRR of Città di Castello, based on direct information from the Umbertide Station (8), derives from this friendship, which does not hide from anyone: "he did not have a PNF card, but showed attitudes in favor of the regime ”, referring to his political conduct before his expatriation. Without excluding the hypothesis, however fragile, that Alessandro simulated, it seems to us that the CCRR interpret a fact that refers to the late 1930s, with the experience and perspective of the year in which the biographical note was drafted, that is nine years later, expanding it enormously and coloring it with meanings suggested a posteriori. But there are other reasons for not agreeing with the carabinieri on a "pro-fascist phase" in Grelli's life, even if, if it were proved to be authentic, it would not constitute a fact to be scandalized, considering the uncertainty and even the confusion of the times, the subordination of the lower classes to intellectuals, and the inadequacy of their means of orientation and critical tools. The CCRR give the fact, which was certainly to their knowledge, a bureaucratic evaluation, without describing and circumscribing it: we try to highlight in Alessandro's frequentation with Mr. Ramaccioni not so much the political aspect, but the realization of a personal relationship, which came to the great advantage of Alessandro. The relationship between the young ex-peasant shoemaker and the rich and educated adult owner was not equal in many respects, almost all of which can be understood. But Alessandro could be led to nod and perhaps agree to things he had never heard before, which fascinated him, on topics that opened up horizons that were unexpected compared to the air he breathed at home. If Ramaccioni, without making rowdy propaganda, but persuasively, as Giovanni assures us, had spoken to his young shoemaker friend, for example, about the economic program of fascism which presented captivating aspects on the worker and peasant side - we mention the reduction of working hours in factory and the tax on the capital of the "medieval barons" - could Alexander have guessed the demagogic implications? (9) We would say no, at least in the days of Romeggio! Times in which Alexander absorbed information and news but had not yet made political ideas, as he did say the RACs. Who, making assessments of this kind, which are not infrequent, thought they were rendering a service to the filed for which a pro-fascist past could constitute a positive precedent and lightened, indeed canceled, any responsibility of their investigative role, for the time in which they had had it under their control. The period of Alessandro's military detention (10) then opens and he spends in Modena, in an environment that was perhaps not only dominated by the military bureaucracy. We say it was influenced by the passage in that military milieu of a Perugian who fell in Spain (11) and assuming that Grelli had already acquired some valid tool for looking around. We do not have any documents of the period and therefore we know nothing official, except that the Royal Quaestor of Perugia twice asked about the behavior of the infantryman Alessandro Grelli. We do not know if the Royal Quaestor had particular reasons for doing so and we believe that the failure to reply means that everything was regular, or simply a bureaucratic inefficiency. It appears, in fact, that Alexander regularly spent his months as a soldier, sixteen months, excluding the training period that preceded the "call to arms" (12). A postcard-size photograph of Alessandro in uniform is preserved in his file. We offered it in photocopy to the brothers who, not knowing it, received it with emotion, crying and kissing it (13). Alexander is portrayed in a soldier's uniform with the envelope on his head, in a "rest" position, with the right arm resting on a perforated wooden shelf that supports a vase of flowers, between the fingers of the hand the cigarette and the left arm on the side. It's the classic photo to send to his girlfriend, to whom to ask for the complicity of being considered not the freshman soldier, but a boy, indeed a man, easygoing, like they say all the details, scarcely martial - the cigarette, the hand on the hip, the body lithe, together with the flowers on the "good room" shelf -. The brothers reciprocate mine gift with a photograph received from France and which appears in the bulletin of the RF (14). Grelli is more years old, and a virile and determined expression, underlined by mature features of the face. In hair, and the shirt open on the chest, in the casual French fashion, denotes greater awareness, which is neither new nor in contradiction with the photography of Modena. A little more mature, in a tie, Grelli appears in a third photograph, as already mentioned (15). The bureaucratic, hasty and distracted description that the Regia Questura makes him at the moment of expatriation, in which the only particular apt it is the "bass". In fact, the Grelli was just one and a half centimeters higher than the minimum required to be "skilled enlisted". On the period of Alexander's life that elapses between the military leave - early days of September 1928 - and the date of expatriation, which is no earlier than the date of issue of the passport - October 1930 - a span of just over two years - sheds light on the testimony of John. Who says: «Before the official expatriation, Alessandro went to France clandestinely, reaching the Ventimiglia border by train, where he entrusted himself to expert people, indeed in charge of the need, who accompanied him, partly on foot and partly on mules along the paths and passes of the Maritime Alps, up to France. During this trip - continues Giovanni - he stopped in Florence in Via della Scala, at the Engineers Regiment, where I was a soldier ». The memory of Giovanni is reflected in his military registration number which shows that he arrived in Florence on 28/4/1930 (16). Therefore Alessandro's Florentine stage can be dated not before the end of April, but not after the end of October, the date of issue of the passport. Why was Alexander going so adventurously to France? Giovanni knows: it was a love escape! Alexander - as his temperament requires - went to join his girlfriend, Aldina, who was expatriated to France with her whole family (17). The motivation confided to his brother in Florence was verifiable in the real circumstance. Other reasons, in concurrence with the sentimental ones, had to be kept silent by him: he could not manifest his own, even generic desire to escape from the family; political motivations, unlikely at the moment, but not to be absolutely ruled out, it would have been better not to even talk in the air. He did not stay in France for long, not only because his love story did not lead to marriage - Alexander died celibate - but because his fellow countrymen, political emigrants, may have advised him not to stay one more day abroad, without documents. , where he would run a hundredfold risks compared to those, already very serious, that expatriates in good standing with their passport ran. And in fact, having completed his military service, in 1930 he obtained a passport valid for one year, and regularly expatriated "for work" for France. At this point, two periods in Alexander's biography open, the one relating to his stay in France, until 1936, and the dramatically shorter one of his enlistment in the red militias of the «Garibaldi» Brigade, in the Laroche Group. The one and the other period will be treated separately on the basis of the documentation obtained in the file in his name by the Regia Questura of Perugia and in the CPC file, of which the brothers do not even exist. Before becoming Giovanni and Angelo's informants, we want to report what they replied to us on issues concerning their brother, but also general aspects common to many emigrants: - what relations existed between the Grelli family and the Umbertide CCRR, considered as the first link in the chain of investigators; - what memories do the Grellis retain from the French period of their brother's emigration, and subsequently from Spain. The carabinieri of Umbertide, who depended directly on the Tenenza di Città di Castello, never showed up either to ask for news or to give it. The information could not have been obtained from the family, since - the carabinieri well knew - they were either liars, or reticent, unreliable and misleading, even in the face of a sincere "we know nothing". As we shall see, "confidential" or "trustworthy" information was important and fundamental. On the other hand, the carabinieri never said anything to the family. Yet they had learned some good things about him: "subversive anti-fascist", "communist to be arrested at the border", "red militiaman in the ranks of the army, in Spain", where there was a war, all the more serious and compromising, how much more unknown! But, did the Grellis ever know something that the CCRR did not know, and that not even the secret police would ever find out? At least in three cases: Alexander's first clandestine emigration; the trip of Abraham who had gone to visit his son in France, reporting excellent news about the Cordonnerie (18) the shoe shop he had opened, to the point that he urged his brothers to join him to collaborate with the four workers already hired; and, finally, the clandestine repatriation of Alexander due to the death of his mother (19), of a very short duration and of which we can establish the exact date (20). The brothers gladly return to 1933, when Alessandro, clandestinely crossing the Maritime Alps, had come to greet his sick mother and had arrived in time to see her dead, an extreme sign of the deep family bond that united the Grellis among them, for which, even Today Alexander is remembered by them with a fraternal affection that has priority over the pride and pride of a brother "who died as a hero for freedom". Since the death of their mother, the Grellis have not known anything about their brother: we anticipate them that there were political reasons that led Alessandro to silence, also belatedly discovered by the police. The family - not a suspect, but an intuition - was convinced that Alexander was in France exclusively for work, and did not ask too many questions about his expired passport or about other details they learned superficially and almost indistinctly. Grelli's life, not limited to his first period, which we have dealt with, but relative to his entire arc, together with the historical approach deserves an epic evocation. Instead we must conclude with the squalid episode of the "package" we learned in the conversation with the brothers. Says Angelo, the younger brother: after the war in Spain - the chronological confirmation does not emerge - we received a postcard from the Post Office of the Umbertide station to collect a package from France. Father and John went there - therefore before 1957, the date of Abraham's death -. They were told that the package had already been collected. They did not protest, they did not investigate, and perhaps, Angelo concludes, they did wrong! Giovanni nods and comments: «There was certainly no money in that package! Why go and steal it? It was someone who agreed with the Railways ». From that "someone", neither an indiscretion nor an allusion is derived. We insinuate that perhaps there were those in town who wanted them badly, and that perhaps it was the fascists who eliminated that one concrete sign of the past of their political adversary. John closes in a silence, from which we are able to understand a profound pain, resigned and powerless. Note: (1) MU, Registry Office, Abramo di Agostino and Bussotti Filomena was born in Umbertide on 6 / XII / 1878, married to Ercolanelli Maria in 1906 and widowed in 1933. (2) BCC, «The Claim», cit., Year 1907. (3) BCC, «The Claim», cit., Years 1906 and 1911. (4) BCC, "The Vindication", cit., Year 1913. It had been a successful campaign of the Socialist Party which had fought since the early years of the century for elementary education, for an adequate preparation of the teachers and for the establishment of school sponsorships. (5) MU, Matricular Role Register 62, Matric. 535, Alessandro Grelli. On 23/10/1926 there is the military visit: he is "skilled enlisted" he can read and write, 6th grade, "stature m. 57.50 ". Recalled to arms, arrived in Modena at the 36th Infantry Regiment on 30th - 4th - 1927, discharged by the same on 2/9/1928 - Ibid, Population Register, Grelli appears to have attended only up to the third grade. (6) BCC, «The Claim», cit., Year 1911. (7) BCC, «The Claim», cit., Year 1920. (8) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Grelli Alessandro cit. (9) BIANCHI ANTONIO, Social struggles and dictatorship, in historical Lunigiana and Versilia, (1919-1930), Florence, Leo S. Loschki, 1981. (10) See no. 5. (11) We refer to Mario Angeloni. (12) See no. 5. (13) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Grelli Alessandro. The photo was taken in Modena by Foto Insvardi Via S. Michele Modena -. It is therefore not the Grelli who supplied it to the CCRR, which perhaps managed to obtain it for other channels. The photo was very important for the registration in the BR. (14) ACS, Grelli Alessandro, CPC. The report in the BR is not contained in ASP, Inv. Quest., Grelli Alessandro, cit. (15) IRB, card by Alessandro Grelli, of which we mentioned in the Introduction. (16) MU, Registry Office, Register of Matricular Role Giovanni Grelli Matric. 10290 VII.mo Corps Engineers Regiment. Giovanni passed the visit at the end of 1928 and "called to arms" reached the VII.mo Genius on 24/4/1930. (17) Aldina's surname is uncertain and confused in Giovanni's memory. The records of the population of Umbertide from the 10th century have not given any confirmation following a search on the name «Aldina». It is clear that his family was not registered in the registry of Umbertide. (18) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Grelli Alessandro. The CCRR speak about the footwear industry installed in St. Laurent, providing the Police Headquarters with the address “Cordonnerie de Puget. St. Laurent du Var ”and the brothers told us that business was going well for Alexander. (19) MU, Population register 1933, Maria Ercolanelli died on 20/02/1933 in Umbertide. (20) Alexander immediately returned to France, after the funeral and therefore on February 22 or 23 he was traveling again. We deduce it from a curious tale by Angelo: when he returned here for the death of his mother Achillino - it was this, as we know, the nickname with which Alexander was usually called - he did not want to sleep the first evening under the same roof as the deceased, because he would be forced to sleep there for nine days. This is so as not to "disturb" the dead woman. Achillino-Alessandro slept in a neighbor's house and then left long before the nine days were up. Il simbolo ritrovato - I La vita di Grelli fino all'espatrio II - III Il fascicolo della Questura e Grelli in Francia IV - Grelli in Spagna Il simbolo ritrovato - I La vita di Grelli fino all'espatrio II. - THE FILE OF THE DIRECT QUESTURA DI PERUGIA HEADED TO GRELLI ALESSANDRO The file of the Perugia sul Grelli police headquarters contains five photographs (1) and forty-seven papers, from 1936 to 1951. Do not think, however, that the Regia Questura of Perugia and the other police bodies have dealt with Grelli for fifteen consecutive years. There are only nine years (2) that date ordinary certificates, forms, bulletins and printed matter of the File Service, and the various correspondence, letters, confidential and highly confidential, registered in double envelopes, service tickets, telegraphic circulars, telespress, etc. Only three years refer to Grelli still alive (1936, 1937, 1938). The following years (1939, 1940, 1941, 1942) attest to the useless search by the police, the town of birth and the carabinieri, about the fate of Grelli, while the last year revolves around the suspicion of the disappearance of Grelli, who however it is not officially documented. Grelli's dossier, already modest as a volume, is therefore chronologically reduced with respect to the emigration period (1930-1938), spent partly in France and partly in Spain, and is limited in content, as there is no living presence of the Grelli, what could it be, eg. a letter from him intercepted on departure or arrival. The dossier on Grelli, of which we give an analytical confirmation in the appendix (3), however, contains a precious indirect reference to a person whom he met in France, who, as we will say, illuminates his political story of Grelli. A copy of the Grelli dossier can also be consulted at the Central Archives of the Central Political State Records Office, Ministry of the Interior Division I CPC Service. It offers more detailed documentation about Grelli's departure for Spain and other substantial details that will be very useful to us. On the outer cover, in thin yellow-orange paper, common to all the files of the Perugia Police Headquarters, his name, surname and paternity stand out in calligraphy, and, in indelible ink, the wording "filed" stands out. Two essential notes follow: «Communist ex militiaman red», as a political qualification, and the indication of the inscription in BR, and in RF «for arrest», ordered by the Ministry of the Interior (4). In the month of July 1936 two letters, which follow one another after a single day, arrive, one to the Ministry in Rome and PC to the Royal Prefect of Perugia, and the other to the Royal Quaestor of Perugia. The sender of the first letter is the Royal Prefect of La Spezia; who writes to the Quaestor is the UPI of the Command of the 102nd Legion MVSN, stationed in Perugia (5). The subject of the two letters is identical: Grelli is a "subversive and anti-fascist" who works with a very dangerous individual from Sarzana - the reference to the latter is exclusive to the letter that arrives from La Spezia - and with three other Umbrians, the whose names are communicated by both letters. The senders declare that they have received Grelli's report from a "trust source", that is, from the secret police. Therefore, Grelli has been "discovered", and from this moment the formation of his dossier starts, and is "filed" in Cat. A / lett. 8 of the R. Questura of Perugia, which will keep the Public Security Division of the Ministry of the Interior informed step by step (6). Both the Prefect of La Spezia and the UPI of the MVSN are recommended that the four reported to be denied the "repatriation" permit and that investigations be carried out for their identification. From the first card, which is precisely the first letter mentioned above, to the last card, the dossier on Grelli becomes for us the testimony of the intertwining of investigations and searches of the police and his life as an emigrant, politically engaged; as a tacit challenge between the police and the anti-fascist, won, in the years preceding 1936, by Grelli. The sign is in this long news gap from about 1930 to 1936, a period in which he managed not to be discovered. The delay is not an exclusive detail of Grelli's biography: it was generally a few years before the police discovered anti-fascists abroad. But it also took a little luck and a lot of forethought to get away with spies, and Alessandro knew how to give himself the image of an individual on the margins of politics, fully occupied as was shown in the Cordennerie, from which perhaps he was making money for the cause as well. He was, in essence, a modest character, whose natural gifts, borrowed from his peasant origin, had been difficult to guess: to make it in spite of the master. We will see, however, that there is a document that illustrates the period that remained obscure for the investigators (7). Grelli's report is very serious and heavy, because it is circumstantial: he put up with a person in sight, emigrated for several years, a thoroughbred propagandist, well-known in his homeland and in France, head of a group that does "deleterious work" in against his compatriots, managing to win the fascists themselves against anti-fascism. Which, while wanting to "keep good Italians" - which means to remain fascist! - were influenced by the strength of his propaganda. There were three Umbrians in the group, as we have already said, two of whom were fellow villagers, natives of San Giustino, inhabitants of St. Laurent du Var, a bricklayer and a carpenter, and both Communists 8. The third Umbrian reported, who a handwritten note in the letter from the UPI of the Militia declares that he had been suspended since 1930, deserves a separate discussion (9). The immediate effect of the report was to be the obvious and somewhat obvious denial of the repatriation permit and mainly the initiation of the "identification" investigations. The commissioner, who does not know anything about it, consulted the CCRR of Città di Castello, who promptly transmit the information received from the Umbertide Arma Station. The content of the information is favorable to Grelli and the tone used by the informants is decidedly benevolent: Grelli has maintained good moral, political and civil conduct - note the exhaustive adjective of all, absolutely all, aspects of behavior; he has no criminal record and no ongoing pending with the carabinieri of Umbertide - in this matter it is always better to abound in the specification. However, as surprised by the anti-fascist report, they declare that Grelli, despite not being a member of the PNF, showed favorable sentiments. As for expatriation, he was regular "for work", with a passport issued by the commissioner himself. They attach the photograph and describe the features. It is not infrequent to find muted tones in the information of the carabinieri, while other police bodies often look for a way to slander the filed, with an apparently banal detail, sometimes with a real slander. The behavior of the Carabinieri of Città di Castello seems to conceal the concern of being held responsible for not having recognized Grelli as an anti-fascist, as was later "reported" in France. For this reason they accentuate and underline the positive things they can say about him, which is perhaps partly authentic, but a little ostentatious (10). We add that their benevolence results in other circumstances: they do not respond to the repeated requests of the commissioner who wants to know how Grelli behaved during his military service; they are careful not to fill in the finca prepared in the biographical form (1939) for the names of the officials or agents who had known him: yet, if they had known him! Finally, they close in silence when they are questioned (1949) by the commissioner on the advisability of revoking Grelli from the group of subversives of the province. We approve of them, adding that ten years after their death it seems unlikely that the police station still knows nothing! The information requested from the CCRR reaches Rome in the first days of January 1937 (1937). From this date, the file does not indicate a document, a form, or a letter. This was not due to bewilderment (11). At the beginning of the second half of the year a telegraphic circular arrives (1937) sent to the Royal Prefect of Perugia and to all the Prefects of the Kingdom, signed by Bocchini Fr. the Minister, with confidential news: Grelli enlisted in the Spanish red militias (12). The news is given in a spectacular way: the postal vehicle is not of ordinary administration; the secret police are present in the use of the conditional "would have enlisted"; the barrage of repressive measures against Grelli acquires drama in the long sequence: he is arrested "returning to the kingdom"; RF and BR be entered, with photograph; a reserved control of correspondence directed to family members is ordered "to ascertain remittances of money from red aid". This is, therefore, the year in which the police report a relative success with an explosive news on Grelli's account - we will see that the chronology is not exact - and in which the repression is relentless with the means that are their own. Ten letters and three modules, concentrated in just over a month - from 19 July to 14 August (1937) -. Seven times the commissioner is the sender and fulfills all the tasks entrusted by the minister. In less than a week he fills out the form for reporting a person to be searched, which should be accompanied by a photograph that the carabinieri sent him the year before. But the Royal Quaestor is lost, so he must have recourse to the Scientific Cabinet of the Terni Police Headquarters for reproduction, which, this time, has a large number of them done, now uselessly (1937). Inside the year there is even the ticket removed from the RF, where Grelli is described as a "dangerous communist", to be arrested. (1937). The year 1938, on the other hand, consists of a single card (1938), coming from the Quaestor's Cabinet: "The Grelli fighter or suspected fighter in the ranks of the Red Army" was inserted in October 1938 in the Cat. A / 9 , which is the category of the red militiamen. In accordance with the date that the card bears, 1938, we have placed it in its natural place, while in the file it has a location on card 1, that is, after the last documents of the file (1951). The silence of the investigators does not derive from their knowledge of what had happened and was happening in Spain, where Alexander had now fallen into the rage of the attack on the Ebro and for a few days he had missed the withdrawal of the Garibaldini - la despedida - episode painful, but not inglorious, also agreed with the consent of the republican government and the League of Nations. Rather, it must be linked to a crisis of consensus towards fascism. In fact, public opinion had come to acknowledge the warmongering and repressive aspect of the regime - War of Africa and racial laws - and the investigators themselves seem to suffer a decline in motivation in carrying out their tasks. We have already detected some stretch marks and we continue to note that the certificate of the Criminal Record was requested only in 1939 (1939). Furthermore, the delay in acquiring such a document denounces the gap between the regime police and the ordinary judiciary. And it is surprising that the Questura starts all over again with the request for the birth certificate (1939) and the address abroad, when this documentation had been acquired three years earlier (1936). The drafting of the biographical card which took place belatedly (1939) brings the news of the "emigration from red Spain" and of the "confinement". Emigration from Spain and confinement that do not find any confirmation in the history of Grelli, nor in archival documents. In the years 1940, 1941, and the first quarter of 1942, the commissioner is busy searching for Grelli and continues to send updates to the Ministry of the Interior of Grelli's residence abroad, which he takes for granted, asserting "nothing to report". Only once (1939) does he confess that "there is no news"; some doubts assailed him in 1941. Realizing, during the review of the Political Record, that Grelli is no longer reported, he asked the CCRR of Città di Castello for information on moral conduct, but "especially political" held "before today". He still asks for his address and the carabinieri (1939) reply that they do not know, because no more correspondence arrives either to friends or relatives "from here", that is to say from Umbertide. In this same circumstance the carabinieri choose not to pronounce themselves - as already mentioned - on the advisability of the revocation of Grelli from the list of subversives of the province. Completely insignificant is the duplication of the biographical card in 1942 (1942) which, moreover, does not have a comma more than the first edition (1939), if not the updates referred to in the years 1940, 1941 and 1942. We have reached the last two years of the dossier which refer to Grelli's death: in 1949 the Quaestor ordered the revocation of Grelli from the Bulletin of the Wanted "for ceased reasons", a ritual formula that foreshadows his death. In 1951 a letter from the Ministry of the Interior, due to the interest of the Ministry of the Treasury, was sent to the Questore of Perugia to give circus news about Alessandro's death, considering that his father had asked for his son's war pension. The most concrete answer comes from the carabinieri who assert without hesitation that the death of Grelli, which took place in combat in Spain on 12 September 1938, is in the registry office of the Municipality of Umbertide. But we have no declaration from the Municipality of Umbertide, which closes the history of Grelli with the Act of Presumed Death (13). Scrolling through the names of the senders of the various documentation contained in the Grelli file, it appears that at the peripheral level the CCRR and the Police Headquarters operated in correspondence with the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs who had various representations abroad, the embassies and consulates of His Majesty the King of Italy, closely linked to the police bodies, typical of the regime, such as the UPIs of the MVSN and the apparatus that the PNF had given itself abroad. But it was concretely efficient and capable of a penetrating investigation only by the police organization, hidden under the formula "trust source" or confidential source, that is, the secret political police. From it came the decisive information on the account of the files, following which the aforementioned peripheral and ministerial investigators were only a bureaucratic role. The analysis of Grelli's file leaves many problems unresolved: the chronological question relating to the dates indicated in the file, not the macroscopically incorrect ones because they go beyond death, but the date of his notification, which is certainly delayed compared to Grelli's political commitment , and the date of enrollment which is not - we have anticipated - that of the telegraphic circular of the Ministry of the Interior. Finally, there is the question of confinement and the emptiness of the circumstances of his death. The file offers - we repeat - indirect documentation, but decisive for tracing Grelli's political itinerary, in the period 1930-1936, the years he spent in France before his departure for Spain. From Grelli's meetings with prominent figures in the history of anti-fascist emigration, both in the political and ideological debate of anti-fascism, and in the concrete struggle against fascism, the precise outline of his political evolution emerges and it seems richer and more lively to us. general scenario of Umbrian political emigration. Note: (1) An original postcard size is the photograph in military uniform, produced on the cover, from which four card size copies were made. (2) These are the years 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942; 1951. The term a quo coincides with the sixth year of Grelli's emigration, the ad quem with the thirteenth anniversary of his death. (3) The Grelli file is fully analyzed, in Appendix I, according to the following items: year, type of document or correspondence, date, sender, recipient and subject, In the text we put the year to which the document refers in parentheses of Appendix I. (4) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Grelli Alessandro, cit. Two entries appear on the cover: one that finds unique confirmation in the biographical card of Grelli 1939, reports that Grelli was "confined" to the date 12/6/1939. There we will deal with this detail elsewhere: The other reports that it was registered in the 1942 Statistical Register. The note is in pencil followed by a question mark and is not reflected in the file, nor has it archival evidence. On the cover are also the «Revisions». (5) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Grelli Alessandro, cit. Appendix II. (6) The Cat. A / lett. 8 corresponded to "subversive and anti-fascist"; «Subversive dated back to the Circ. Internal Min. 5343, 1 June 1896, instituting the Filing Cabinet, "anti-fascist" had been added in the fascist era. (7) This is what we will do in III. "Grelli in France". (8) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Gattini Goffredo di Gerasimo and was Corsini Giuseppa. Gattini was born in S. Giustino 4/8/1892, carpenter worker, anti-fascist. Ibid. Tarducci Ottavio was a communist Giuseppe, born in S. Giustino on 8/9/1898. (9) ACS, September Luigi Antonio CPC. The September was Giuseppe and it was Biondini Gelsomina, born in Todi on 16/9/1880 a shoemaker, a socialist who had been struck from the ranks of subversives there and 2/9/1930. September cannot be consulted in ASP because the files on the "Radiated" are not yet available and therefore we do not know the reason for the radiation. September is mentioned under different surnames: on the cover of the Grelli issue there is Settembrini Luigi and it is the only time that his paternity and maternity are not reported, data that are repeated and unchanged in other quotes. The place of birth is now indicated in Città di Castello, now in Todi. We found his birth certificate in the Todi registry office with the day, month and year that appear in his file in the Central State Archives. September has been living in Rome since 20/10/1930 where he had gone from France, from the Rome Population Register. (10) We have already dealt with the alleged "pro-fascist" phase of Grelli. (11) We exclude that it was a question of loss, because even among the papers in the CPC dossier on Grelli in ACS we found this void. (12) The date of Grelli's departure for Spain is therefore attributed to the year 1937. We will examine in IV Grelli in Spain the documents offered by the file on Grelli preserved in ACS, which anticipate it by a year. (13) MU, Death Certificate Register 1957, p. II, Series C. Sentence authorizing the transcription of the death certificate of Alessandro Grelli. The copy of the death certificate was provided to us by the Umbertide Registry Office, subject to authorization by the Court of Perugia, Attorney General. III. - GRELLI IN FRANCE If emigrants could feel almost at home at the first impact with an environment where, according to some testimonies (1), Italian was spoken more than French, as in St. Laurent du Var, in the Department of the Maritime Alps, an obligatory destination for Grelli for the well-known reasons of the heart, and fixed residence during his emigration (2), they could not rest assured among their compatriots, who were not all anti-fascists, many willing to denounce and inform, at the service of the secret political police, and some who had made or were making a fortune, "exploiting the fellow countryman." "It was full, full of spies," which created an atmosphere of distrust, suspicion, fear of everything and everyone around the emigrants. They felt and were, followed, spied on even in private life and always alert to the risk of having an infiltrator among their everyday friends - the most unthinkable and least suspicious person - by whom they could be branded as "anti-fascists" and as such files. There is no story of an emigrant-anti-fascist that does not begin with a report by a spy, worthy of absolute credit. Consequently, police measures were taken, or the Special Court was put into action, whose laws had reinstated the death penalty, not only for attacks on the king or the leader, but only for belonging to a dissolved party (3 ). If the spies understood that they had been identified, they ran away, but, not infrequently, they were trapped by our people, who knew how to transform themselves into "good policemen" (4), and to the infiltrators of the Avra they responded by dislocating "trusted, unknown" individuals, who did not attract attention, in the offices of the Dopolavoro, or in the sections of the PNF, places where they spoke of trade union problems and political issues to prepare the offensive strategy against the anti-fascists. The ordinary judiciary, the one established by the liberal state, had not been suppressed, but deprived of authority: bodies structurally unrelated to the role of police carried out investigative tasks. The Royal Consulates of Italy abroad, solicited by the Ministry of the Interior, or by the Ministry on which they depended, were very efficient, diligent and, to be honest, even precise, compared to the Royal Police Headquarters and Royal Prefectures. The Consul of His Majesty the King of Italy had a direct line with the trustee of the foreign sections of the PNF - the Case d'Italia or Case degli Italiani - which offered a recreational activity - radio, cards and conversation - to program , quietly, political action plans. On the occasion of the registration, a map of the "registered or not" was drawn up, with big problems for the latter (5). The UPIs of the MVSN, directly dependent on the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, had the means and men, belonging to bureaucratically autonomous roles. They were present in all situations, and spread the confidential news, which they received first. The local administrative authorities, for example the Mairies, were hostile to them and were prejudiced against them, like the government police. Relations with the French democrats were not easy; but we have the documentation of an "anti-Italian" - that is to say anti-fascist - demonstration in which our compatriots are associated in large numbers with the French and the naturalized in an armed attack on the House of Italians in St. Laurent, to demonstrate against the policy of their government, on the occasion of the call to arms of the reservists: an intertwining of ideological, political and claim reasons in military roles (6). They encountered no slight difficulties in looking for work, unless they resigned themselves to being peasants in the fields planted with vegetables and fruit in southern France, to harsh living conditions and wages, which Grelli was able to escape by putting to good use. his ability as a craftsman that benefited him, also as a social position. The salaried workers had to pay a tax of 25 francs, with which they obtained the "work card", indispensable for being hired; self-employed persons paid the "work card", 100 francs. Also this tax was an opportunity for the sections of the PNF abroad, in agreement with the French authorities, to implement discrimination and blackmail (7). The period initially spent by Grelli, immediately after his expatriation, is illustrated by the conversation with his brothers: the clandestine flight from Umbertide, followed by regular emigration "for work", frequent and reciprocal visits, an opportunity to urge the brothers to move to working in the shoe factory until 1933, the year of his mother's death. From this date Grelli never returns home, and he doesn't let anyone know anything about himself, either by oral messages or by letter, as the carabinieri also attest. It seems that his life has undergone a turning point and is taking place in a context that pushes him to estrange himself from his family and from any relationship with Umbertide. Detail of which the brothers complain and do not agree. Specific circumstances and precise reasons for justifying this behavior of Grelli can be seen in his meeting, already mentioned, with Giovanni Tomaso Nello, Bertieri who formed and directs a group for political propaganda. Grelli joins, together with other Umbrians - but they are not only Umbrians (8) - to be part of the group, he begins to military in the anti-fascist struggle with awareness and risk, which induce in him prudence, confidentiality, mainly towards the family who , in Umbertide, he could have undergone interrogations and searches. Grelli, who emigrated without political qualifications, became a communist at the Bertieri school who "worked" with his followers. The expression "work" used by the informant suggests the feverish propaganda activity, the meetings, the internal coordination, the new contacts and the constant displacements, as the surviving emigrants frequently report. In meeting with Bertieri, Grelli found the opportunity to enter politics and the instrument of his ideological maturation. Which evolved, first of all, with the assimilation of the meaning of the various experiences made by Bertieri before 1923 and subsequently on all the occasions in which he was involved in concrete initiatives, which were framed in the context of the ideological debate. Bertieri had been the witness and the protagonist of a central fact in the history of anti-fascism, which was the revolt of Sarzana in July 1921 against the aggression of the squads, the first and for a long time the only example of victory over fascism: "an event that became a sort of myth during the dark years of fascism, for the persecuted, for the exiles, for those who suffered in prison "(9). Before 1921, Bertieri had been the animator and promoter of all the demonstrations and of every strike, in a strip of land such as Lunigiana with a concentration of workers in the La Spezia shipyards, and a peasant in the vineyards of the Ligurian "bands". Sarzanesi. He was an assiduous reader and speaker of the left-wing press, but he had never been a contributor to the editorial staff of any newspaper, as claimed by the carabinieri who knew him. In the role of socialist councilor (10) of the municipal administration of Sarzana - a position he held from 1921 as a socialist, passed to communism after the Livorno Congress - he had proclaimed a state of siege in the municipal council in the face of squad aggression, and command of the proletarian defense committee of the Arditi del Popolo (11), which he himself organized, had determined the humiliating retreat of the fascists, at the end of a week of bloody clashes that had claimed many victims among the aggressors (12). From the clash between the fascists, financed by the agrarians and the industrialists and the proletarian opposition that tried to raise the conditions of the people, organizing leagues, cooperatives, unions and committees, as had happened in Sarzana, Grelli understood the political significance of the Italian situation . And he discovered a confirmation of this in his life in Romeggio, personally and by the family itself (13). After the events in Sarzana, to escape the arrest warrant, which had already hit some of his followers (14), Bertieri went into hiding and was eventually forced to emigrate illegally to France, reaching Marseille, where he did not stay long. . In fact, he continued his activity as a propagandist which led him to travel throughout France to hold meetings and rallies. The Socialist International chose him as the official speaker. We find him in this role in Marseille, in 1930, on the occasion of the great party of the proletariat of that time, which was May 1st (15). Oratory skills - "he speaks well" and is a "discreet comitiante" - even investigators are recognized. We endorse them, as they are also supported by the level of university studies he has reached (16). However Bertieri never exhibited the qualification of "student" and declined, without any exception, that of "worker" or "mechanic" who leads him - it was convenient for him to say - to work now in one place and now in another. In the end, even the police realized that this was an "excuse" for the political activity of Bertieri who "wandered a little here and a little there" "appeared and disappeared", because he was busy "working" at the " service of Italian-Franco-Russian subversivism "(17). On another occasion Bertieri amused himself by making fun of the police (18), confusing them for almost a year because of the nickname, Buccin or Bucin, with which he was also known in Sarzana and cheated them to the point that they were induced to provide personal data of a non-existent person. The political debate abroad and in Italy was animated by all the democratic forces in the field - we mention, without being complete, liberalism, republicans, socialists, communists, popular people and all the various associations that branched off from them. Differently articulated in terms of political content, they were aimed at forming an organism, as unitary as possible, to oppose fascism. We could give a historical account (19), but it seems significant to us to use the material contained in the CPC dossier on Bertieri, and to report on some initiatives and experiences of his group, which are the precise reflection of the ongoing debate, and in addition they open a glimpse into the political newspaper of our emigrants. He had contacts with Luigi Campolonghi (20), also from Lunigiana, older in age and in exile. It was Campolonghi who introduced him to the anti-fascist concentration (21) without pushing him to join it. But it helped him from the organizational and ideological point of view to found a section of the LIDU in St. Laurent du Var (22). Grelli had it at home, and he attended the weekly meetings in a local audience, called by Bertieri who had become its president. In front of a fairly large audience - by admission of the investigators themselves - Bertieri mainly gave political speeches "marked by anti-fascism" and oriented towards the social-communist currents, which would have given life to the French Popular Front. The headquarters held "conferences", that is, meetings with prominent figures - for example, Pacciardi, Campolonghi himself - who took stock of the situation and gave information on the work done by other sections. On the sidelines of the meetings, funds were raised by selling, for example, the folders of the «Loan of liberty», for L. 1000 each, with the fruit, to tell the truth, scarce, of L. 5000 francs. They organized the annual party of the Italian League of Human Rights, which took place on March 30 (23). As president of the LIDU of St. Laurent du Var Bertieri obtained a special "political refugee" card, a pass authorized by the League of Nations (24), well known to the investigators' controls. It will have been very useful to him on the occasion of his expulsion from Luxembourg, an episode in Bertieri's life, of which we do not know the reasons or the circumstances. But the political position naturaliter adhering to the "fervent gregarious of the French Popular Front", to the communist Bertieri, who had opened - it is important - a section of the communist party in St. Laurent (25) and consequently to his group was that of the FU, the Single Front, as the anti-fascist Single Front was identified in police jargon. On January 24, 1934, XII ff, a meeting of the FU took place in Nice at the Cafè de la Gare, present, among the many emigrants, Bertieri, who is cited in second place in the list (26). An infiltrator tells us how that meeting took place in a report drawn up for the General Management PS Division of General and Reserved Affairs Division I of the Ministry of the Interior. Much information relating to the composition, dissemination and organization of the FU, to the strategy of its political project, are true from the report of the infiltrator, as we will see below. However, aware that he is reporting burning, and perhaps alarming information, he takes care to minimize them - he considers them to be "of little importance and of little importance" - and evaluates the data and perspectives of the political work of the FU with skepticism and pessimism, such as those which are, at the base, tainted by the hegemony of the Communists. They want to "impart a too marked character to the movement" which is endemically - the infiltrator seems to think - on the verge of rupture. There are those who leave the FU (27), but must admit that there are also more definitive and concrete adhesions, the maximalists, for example (28). He informs us that the FU is widespread throughout France, in Paris, where the meetings are "repeated and numerous" in Cannes, Nice, Beausoleil and frequented by the LIDU, by republicans, by the maximalists, by the Mutual Society Brotherhood, by the reformists, by the socialists and, of course, the communists. The presence in the meeting of January 1934 of exponents of the French Communist Party and for the past of a prestigious figure such as Henri Barbusse was at that time an indication of success (29). The formation of the single body to oppose fascism according to the proposal of the maximalists, which is accepted, is to replace the enlarged single committee with many small neighborhood committees or sub-committees articulated on fragmented realities and situations, similar to communist cells. The economic claims of emigrant workers were for the FU a fundamental premise for a unitary action against fascism, according to the tradition of socialism of the years of the II and III Congress of the International, which inspired the FU. The problem at the moment was to defend the workforce and protect it against the French law on wages (30). Therefore - say the defendants - it is essential to have people infiltrate the sections of the Dopolavoro who collect the intentions and plans drawn up in this regard. Lastly, small work is not neglected, such as sending propaganda letters, circulars with a political content, and, with great precision, invitations to meetings so that it should not happen that someone is absent, just because they have not received the notice of convocation (31). When the propaganda for the recruitment of volunteers to defend the Spanish republic exploded in the early months of 1936, Grelli decided to go and fight. He abandons the group to the most discreet extent, as we shall see, and seals the meeting with Bertieri with an act of great political significance. A meeting in which the many differences and diversities between the two protagonists - age, education, political militancy, reason for expatriation, temperament and character - could have crushed the weak position of Grelli, who instead comes out strengthened in the bond of ideals and common intentions. "Among the subversives it should be noted a tall individual, thin, blond hair, about fifty, worker, ardeasiac eyes, red complexion ...", a description of Bertieri written by the political police that convinces us and almost excites us. Let's compare him with the Grelli, whom we know by photography: short - for only one and a half centimeters "skilled at the draft" - rough, with no particular characteristics, other than those inconspicuous and captivating ones of his face of a genuine Umbrian peasant. Taciturn, he listens to Bertieri's tales and speeches with fluent speech, made incisive by the melodious Ligurian-Tuscan cadence. The passionate strength and the ability to persuade are evident from the description of his temperament, drawn up by the Carabinieri of Sarzana: "ambitious" "overbearing", that is, with a will to be a boss, because he knew he could do it. The negative evaluations of "bad reputation" and "weak worker" are the result of the slanderous campaign that the fascists made to him after Sarzana and of the objective scarcity of the garages and bus services, of which he declared himself dependent. Alessandro's brothers have neither known nor heard of an Umbertidese family, the Broccolicchi who, after a failed internal emigration to Gubbio, had expatriated in 1902 in France, father and mother, almost fifty, with nine children, all between fifteen and five years (32). But Alessandro certainly knew and frequented them, because the second and third Broccolicchi generations were known and active in southern France, precisely in the period in which Grelli was there. Proof of this is that among uncles and nephews, living in the 1920s and 1930s, three of them are registered. They are Antonio meant Alfonso, Vittorio and Maria: we give a brief account of the files in the inventory of the Perugia Police Headquarters relating to Alfonso and Vittorio (33). The character we want to point out is Maria Broccolicchi, belonging to the third generation, daughter of Eugenio, listed as an anti-fascist - the "above-mentioned woman" specifies the PS official - because we understand the exceptional nature of the feminine anti-fascist (34). Maria worked closely with a cousin, Gino, for whom the police headquarters did not formalize the file, perhaps because he was assimilated to the nationality of his father, naturalized since 1928. Note: (1) We refer to the late Mariano Fulmini and Probo Martinelli, and to Italo Nicoletto, Vincent Tonelli among the many surviving former Garibaldini. The most incisive passages of their testimonies appear in quotation marks in the text. (2) The brothers of the Grelli refer only to the address of St. Laurent, like the carabinieri. Even the Consulate of Nice, in what can be defined, as we shall see, the last certain news on Grelli, before Spain, refers to the same town in the Department of the Maritime Alps. (3) AA.W. Lessons of anti-fascism, Bari, Laterza, 1962, p. 138 and ss. (4) One of our witnesses relates: "we managed to locate the home of a spy, we seized a letter from her, which contained very serious news: a communist had been murdered to avenge a fascist killed in Paris". Our witness gives the names of the protagonists of his story. (5) ASP, Inv. Quest. fasc. Goffredo kittens. Gattini, during his interrogation in confinement, says he asked the trustee of the St. Laurent section of the PNF for the card and obtained it. Unable to pay the outstanding annuities, he ended up arousing the suspicions of the trustee, who threatened him. telling him «I'll arrange it!». Gattini was terrified by the trustee and withdrew from frequenting the fascist section. Thus began - according to his version - his persecution as an anti-fascist. (6) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC. Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, the House of Italians, at least that of St. Laurent, remains open to fellow countrymen to listen to "the radio, play cards, chat". But no meeting - the note continues - has the character of a "ceremony" or is marked by a political meeting. On the occasion of the declaration of war by France and England on Nazi Germany - we are in 1939 - the French reservists were recalled to arms, which constituted a reason for resentment for them. Therefore, an anti-fascist demonstration was organized on their part with a nocturnal aggression against the House of Italians, wanting to hit the policy of the regime allied to Nazism. (7) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Tarducci Ottavio. Tarducci, still in 1935, had not managed to obtain the "work card", even though he had even requested it from the Mairie of St. Laurent. Eventually he resorted to the local Casa degli Italiani and began to attend the section quietly and apparently convinced. of the PNF. Having obtained the employment card, Tarducci changes his behavior, begins to associate with extremist elements - as the investigators point out. For the humiliation suffered and the anger accumulated in the refusal of the Mairie he goes out in a sensational demonstration on the occasion of the feast of the patron saint of St. Laurent. In the midst of the festivities he sings the Internazionale - and it is immediately a choir. The Mayor invites him to stop and Tarducci responds with threats and insults and making him under with a clenched fist accuses him of not having wanted to help him for the "work card". (8) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC cit. More numerous than the Umbrians were the Ligurians - Sarzanese, communists, anarchists, republicans, all registered, whose residence abroad, profession or occupation is unknown. They are natives one of Arcola (La Spezia), one of La Spezia, two of Sarzana, one of Lerici, and a name that does not respond to an individual born or known in Sarzana - notes the investigator - who, like us, underlines the common geographical origin of Bertieri's followers. (9) Bianchi A., cit. Foreword by Giancarlo Pajetta. (10) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC. The biographical card only recognizes his election as Municipal Councilor; instead he was councilor in the year of the Sarzana events. After Bertieri was already expatriated for reasons of personal security, the fascists in 1926 denounced him for embezzlement, according to their classic public administrator-thief equivalence. The Court of La Spezia sentenced him to one year of imprisonment, a fine of L. 300 and one year of interdiction from public office. The sentence never reached him in France. From other convictions - a 1919 offense and simple bankruptcy - he was acquitted respectively by prescription and by amnesty in 1924. (11) Bianchi A., cit. It was a political formation in which anti-fascists from various sides had converged to face the violence of the squads. In the events of Sarzana they had had an important weight. Bertieri had set up a department in Sarzana with a contingent of 150 men, all workers and peasants. They had their own newspaper and, according to the work quoted by Bianchi, they also operated in Umbria. Of the fact, however, we do not find any reference in the newspaper The Claim, cit. (12) We have read two versions of the events in Sarzana, one historical (see Bianchi A., cit.), And the other ASLS Fondo Prefettura della Spezia, Report 12 and 13 June 1921 by the Deputy Commissioner PS, from Sarzana, to be sent to the Sub-prefect of La Spezia, upon notification by the Mayor of Sarzana, and by the councilors Calderini and Bertieri. The PS Commissioner presents them as "a fascist raid" in Sarzana, Bianchi as an attack by the terrorist squad against the Sarzanese population, with which the municipal administration of the city supported by the left-wing parties had sided. The first version presents the defeat of the fascists as a "retreat" to avoid police intervention; the historical testimony speaks of a vigorous response of the popular forces, peasants, workers and bourgeois, once in tune with the anti-fascist parties of Sarzana and all of Lunigiana. (13) Not Grelli personally, nor his family, but the democratic movement of the Upper Tiber Valley circulated a sheet "Umbrian Communist Union Committee - Nov. 1924 Appeal" denouncing the responsibility of the capitalists for the continuous increase in life and for the decrease in wages, cf. Appendix III. (14) Bianchi A., cit. We refer to Bocciardi Ugo, anarchist, blind, accused of murder, a character close to Bertieri in the Sarzana facts, who does not appear to be part of his group. (15) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, cited CPC. (16) ASLS, Leverage Office Fund of 1892 - Municipality of Sarzana. Visit passed by Bertieri in 1922, that is, at the age of 22. He is a "student". In the biographical card of his CPC dossier it appears instead that he did "elementary courses" and that consequently his capacity as a propagandist due to lack of schooling must be considered scarce and not very effective. (17) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC cit. (18) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC cit. For at least a year, the correspondence relating to Bertieri is concerned with deciphering whether Bucin or Buccin was another Bertieri's person or not. The Municipality of Sarzana puts an end to the investigation. But the Royal Prefecture of La Spezia had mobilized, the Ministry which had issued a "circular for research" and the Division of the PP, of La Spezia had even provided the personal data of a non-existent Alfredo Bucino to whom the same activities were attributed that played the Bertieri. The whole investigation was complicated, in part, by the fact that Bertieri had managed to prevent the La Spezia police headquarters from coming into possession of a photograph of him. (19) Alatri Paolo, Italian Anti-Fascism, Ed. Riuniti, 1973. (20) Luigi Campolonghi had joined the anti-fascist Concentration, to which neither Justice and Freedom nor the Communists had joined. (21) The anti-fascist concentration established in France in 1927 substantially refers to the Aventinian position and included dissenting elements of the Italian League of Human Rights. It crumbled around 1934. (22) The LIDU is an association older than the anti-fascist Concentration and survived to it and still operating today in France and Algeria. It arose along the lines of the Ligue des Droits de l'homme whose origins date back to the Dreyfus affair. (23) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Marian lightning. (24) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC, cit. (25) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC, cit. The news is reported with the indication «sec. socialist "and corrected in" sect. communist »in pencil. The confusion arises from the fact that in the biographical notes he is described as "socialist" as he was before his accession to the Communist Party after the Livorno Congress. (26) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC, cit. Appendix IV. (27) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC, cit. While the Socialist Party is increasingly in favor of rupture, in Beausoleil, the Maximalists have even fully joined the FU, and perhaps even the Communist Party. (28) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC, cit. In addition to those present whose names are mentioned, our speaker refers to an unknown Communist who is the main "speaker". (29) Henri Barbusse was certainly not known to Grelli for his literary work but he became so on the occasion of the war in Spain when Barbusse organized the volunteers with a battalion of the BI, with his name. (30) In that precise historical context it was necessary to defend the Italian workforce abroad and protect it against the law on wages, which followed the Fascist law on the reduction of wages, aggravating it with quotas, i.e. reducing the amount of Italian workers that French employers could or had to hire. (31) ACS, Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello, CPC, cit. It had happened to the Republicans. (32) MU, Registry. The emigrants of 1902 were called Celestino Broccolicchi and Stella Crispoltoni, born respectively in Umbertide and Città di Castello in 1852 and 1853. The children were all born in Umbertide, with the exception of two who were born in Gubbio. Once in France, they spent the first period occupied in cultivating the fields and with the large number of arms, all in the family, which they can employ, they draw good results, if, around the 1920s, Antonio intended Alfonso (born in 1874) the eldest son "is »Cultivate land« owned by him ». By decree of 1928 he became a French subject. Later he became the owner of a car service, like his brother Eugenio and also hired Bertieri Giovanni Tomaso Nello as a mechanic. (33) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Broccolicchi Antonio, Broccolicchi Antonio, understood as socialist Alfonso di Celestino, born in Umbertide 22/3/1874 - papers 34, 1934-1944. Antonio had become a socialist in France, having been expatriated at eighteen. "He made pomp of his principles"; he is mentioned among the participants in a conference held by R. Pacciardi in Nice in 1934, an event of primary political importance, which led the political police to draw up a list of participants, to be considered suspects. His brother Antonio, ten years younger (see ASP Inv. Quest. Fasc. Broccolicchi Vittorio di Celestino, anti-fascist born in Gubbio on 25/4/1895, papers 16 + 2 photos 1939-1944) is infamous by the police with every sort of accusations (exploiter of prostitution and keeper of houses of ill repute) that would have made him merit judicial charges on the French side. Of which we have no documentation, just as his alleged expulsion from French territory in 1936 is not documented. From the file it does not appear that poor Vittorio ever left France. (34) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Broccolicchi Maria, Maria Broccolicchi in Polidori, by Eugenio, antifascist, born in Gubbio 25/4/1895 - cards 16 + 2 photos 1939-1944 - Maria, daughter of Eugenio and wife of the red militiaman Polidori Francesco, di Domenico, is reported as "Very active anti-fascist propagandist and registered in the RF, with the specific purpose of subjecting her to a close interrogation on her political activity, and on that of her husband:" she is extensively questioned and reports on the merits ". According to her file, many important details of Maria's life had escaped the police: who had learned from her brothers-in-law in Città di Castello to use printed type and that she had emigrated with her son and her husband, persecuted for his ideas " anti-national and sympathy for subversive parties "in Nice where she was employed in the printing sector. To provide for her son and her husband, the latter unemployed, she had been helped by the "red aid" during the period in which Polidori had tried, twice, to go to fight or work in Spain. II - III Il fascicolo della Questura e Grelli in Francia IV. - GRELLI IN SPAIN The context in which Alessandro Grelli spends the last two years of his life is the Spanish Civil War, whose complex origin, internal to the country in which it broke out, would seem indispensable to discuss and indicate, moreover, why it inevitably became a European and international affair. , as soon as the contenders - the republicans in government and the revolting Francoists - quickly asked for military aid, receiving generous and ambiguous responses, almost always of common origin and of opposite sign towards the two sides, driven by interests that they went beyond the ideology of merit itself. It might seem indispensable to talk about the parallel civil war that took place, bloody and terrorist, behind the republican lines, between communists and anarchists, a sinister projection of Stalin's Bolshevism, and the massacre of a large number of Franco's political opponents, decimated by the platoon of execution ordered by him (1), a sinister prelude to the decline of the "liberal spirit" of Spain for long successive years. We want to place that dramatic event in the circumscribed reality of the anti-fascists, especially the exiles, to grasp the signs of the political passion of the few who voluntarily exposed their life for the ideal: what they thought about it, how their willingness to participate was organized, how the war changed individual and group attitudes. Circumstances that border on the human drama, barely guessed, that even Grelli lived. - We will tell of his death in combat through mean news, but enough to put him in a solitary, heroic position with respect to the group to which he belongs. The news of the Francoist military uprising of July 1936 spread rapidly throughout Europe, thanks to the radio stations, official or clandestine, especially the Catalan ones, which the technological renewal was making protagonists of mass information (2). The anti-fascists were "fascinated and magnetized" (3), and, having set aside the mulch reserves, they saw near the dream of a direct confrontation with fascism, established in their country: for freedom against tyranny. This is the interpretation that Carlo Rosselli promptly and clearly enunciated in a speech to Radio Barcellona, on November 13, 1936, addressing himself to "Compagni, Italian brothers": identity between Francoism and Mussolian fascism, identity of the struggle to defeat the one and the other. other (4). In the memoirs of the veterans of the Spanish War (5), written a few years after its conclusion, there are rare references to the pacciardana reading. The Rossellian thesis prevails with class variants - anti-capitalist war - and nationalist variants - war of support for a people threatened from the outside - with a clear rejection of the democracy-communism opposition, of which Franco managed to persuade some Italian diplomats. The reaction of the anti-fascists in Italy was prompt and worried following the speed with which the regime sent, as early as the end of July, to Morocco, contingents to reinforce the Francoists. They were not unaware that Mussolini's sympathies for Franco were joined by the long-standing links and affinities between the Savoy and Bourbon monarchies. In the various Italian cities there were no demonstrations of solidarity, repressed even before they exploded, while the regime intensified the arrests, and the Special Court the sentences. In France and Belgium and elsewhere in Europe, where anti-fascist Italians had emigrated, who in the years of exile had experienced the not only material importance of economic support, the first cure was the collection of funds for the Spanish people at war, and for the travel expenses of the volunteers (6). Political propaganda in favor of republican Spain took the form of conferences, meetings, circulars, leaflets, person-to-person meetings, or with groups. The work of the recruiters, organized in the ways that we will analyze later, was so intense and effective as to push Mussolini's government to decree, just six months after the start of the war, their detention, from one to three years (7) . Similarly, in the same period, the French Chamber, following the governmental orientation of "non-intervention" alongside England, had voted a decree to prevent the departure of the French for Spain (8). The long-standing anti-fascist organizations, the LIDU and the FU, found a unity of purpose they had never achieved in ideological discussion. Communists and Socialists, Liberal Party leaders and Republicans worked side by side in informing about the modalities of enlistment and travel. In the area of the Maritime Alps circulated a flyer reproduced in mimeograph style, and therefore of wide circulation, edited by "Fronte Unico Italiano of the Department of Launching" (9), which Grelli may have had on hand and discussed with his companions. On the merits we tend to believe that Grelli's decision was first of all temperamental, and, only in part, the result of a collective elaboration of the group. Within which the possibilities of influence were bypassed, and almost canceled, by the solicitations of the numerous committees, which had formed and were being formed, in favor of Spain, which feverishly multiplied the initiatives to organize recruitment and to inform about course of the war. Also in Ponte S. Luigi, on the border with Italy, a Section of the "Revolutionary Committee pro Spain" functioned, and in Nice a "Russian bureau" hired volunteers. The Spanish government itself had opened its own representation in France to promote the republican cause, and was authorized to circulate its own recruiting agents. The Consul of Spain in Marseille organized the transfer of volunteers to Barcelona, on Spanish ships, which departed twice a month, with a capacity of 450 militiamen at a time, and assured them of triumphal welcome upon arrival (10). The UPI of the MVSN, stationed in Marseille, managed to obtain the lists of transported persons, relative to the last quarter of 1936, for a total of one thousand names. It is obvious that the UPI sent the list to the Ministry of the Interior, which set in motion the bureaucratic process of identification, and subsequent phases, not different from that reserved for those registered. Grelli's name is not included in the lists, as we had hypothesized, knowing for sure that he had left Barcelona, but not taking into account that he had left, yes, from Barcelona, but with the Laroche group, which may have followed differently itinerary (11). - Aggregated with a group, which officially denounced the reasons for enlisting, Grelli did not have to invoke the justification "for work" (12) similar to that of the emigrants of the 1920s and 1930s who, even in the context of the war in Spain , found its objective justification in the contraction of the available manpower (13), as had happened for the emigrants of the 1920s. Nor did he head to sorting places where volunteers from France itself and from other places generally went (14). In these "bureaux" they could regularize the passport, if they were in possession of it, or were provided with special passes. Nor did he have to face the adventurous departure of those who left isolated and individually, as often happened in many parts (15). In this way those "non-party" volunteers crossed the border, statistically given the first place as a numerical participation (16), who ran many risks, even if the "Red Aid" had set up the "Red Help" service at the border. Red Guides "(17). In the land of Spain, the volunteers who arrived by sea were welcomed in the great infantry barracks of Pedralbes, those who arrived by land, crossing the Pyrenees, in Albacete (18). In these and other centers, Grelli also had to stop for training, that is, to follow a military training course, learn how to shoot, and other warfare techniques. At the end of the course he was enrolled in the official BI lists, with a registration number, which is the same as that of the "Carnet militar", the militiamen's identity card (19). Training was often limited to only one week, or even less, depending on the contingent requests coming from the front. In any case, the militiaman was included in the Spanish army, with the same military rank he had achieved in the Italian army, and at the initial rank, if, as could happen, he had not done military service (20). In gray-green, not with a soldier's uniform, but in overalls, the uniform of the worker, appropriate to a war, in which more than half of the fighters were made up of workers (21), on the head the bag with the star three-pointed, with his clenched fist raised at the height of the temple, in the Garibaldi salute, the militiaman appears portrayed in period photographs. In which, however, the black berets of the anarchists and the colonial helmets refer to the diversified political origins of the participants (22). There are two documents referring to Grelli's departure for Spain (23): the telegraphic circular from the Ministry of the Interior (1937) to the Royal Prefect of Perugia and to all the prefects of the kingdom, dated July 1937; the telespresso of the Royal Consulate General of Nice (1937) to the Minister of the Interior, dated June 3, 1937. The date of the first document is a few days after the date of the second, and does not suggest any particular observation other than that of detecting its coincidence. Substantial differences, however, exist between them, regarding the origin and structure of the news itself: the minister writes from Rome, a peripheral place with respect to Nice, from where the Royal Consul writes who had the opportunity to check, albeit indirect evidence of what he says, close as it is to the place where the events took place. The minister informs that Grelli "would have enrolled" uses the conditional, typical of the news of "trust source" - and does not specify any chronological reference; the consul writes that Grelli "left St. Laurent du Var in October 1936". The consul uses the mode of certainty for an event that happened under the eyes of all and that even the friends of Grelli, the companions of the group, may have confirmed, since, with this indication, they did not compromise either the friend or themselves. The motivation for the removal of Grelli is made explicit with the conditional and that is "he would have gone to Barcelona to fight in the international militias of the Laroche group". In conclusion, the minister gives the news for investigative purposes, which does not require chronological details; the consul communicates a date from which Grelli had not been seen again in St. Laurent du Var. Therefore, adding that some time passes from when a person moves away from a place until those of the place realize that he has moved away, we can establish the chronology of the departure of Grelli for Spain, in October 1936, which is in contrast with the date with which in the file of the Perugia Police Headquarters this important junction in Grelli's life is mentioned, as we have already observed. When to the Laroche group, we further specify that, in our opinion, it is a political group and not a military one, for which a different appellation - column, battalion or other - would have been used. In fact, the military group - company or battalion or brigade - was not known upon departure, but assigned, after training, when the soldiers were about to leave for the front, or perhaps the front itself. Grelli, dunqúe, was in Spain from the end of 1936 to September 1938. He spent about two years there, around which we have no documentation relating to the war fronts, in which he could have fought, nor to injuries, illnesses and hospital stays. , nor to probable licenses. Grelli was unable to leave us any news of him because he did not return to his homeland, as happened to the veteran militiamen, who during interrogations or at the border or at the police station, told the details of their Spanish experience. Many tell of moving from one front to another, many had been hospitalized for injuries or illnesses. There are those who can boast of having been fighting for twenty-two months, with only one interruption because they were hospitalized (24); there are those who, despite having returned to Spain twice, never reached the front for reasons beyond their control (25). We will see how the documentation, albeit poor and uncertain, on his death can authorize us to present him in two different phases of the Spanish war: the battle of Madrid at the end of 1936 and the first months of 1937, and the great battle of the Ebro, started in the second fortnight of May 1938, bloodyly culminating precisely in the days in which Grelli lost his life. The documents relating to the definition of the date, place, causes of Grelli's death and particular annexes relating to various circumstances, such as the fate, which moves us with pity, which touched his body, were not found in the archives, but in the current archives of the Ministry of the Treasury, War Pensions Office in the provincial and national headquarters. The Perugia office provided us with the pension application from Alessandro's father (26) which is confirmed by the documentation provided by the Rome office, with the complete documentation acquired to authorize Abramo Grelli's pension (27). Two documents emerge from this documentation, of which we will speak extensively - Notoriety Act of the Consul General of Italy in Nice and the letter from the secretary of the former Garibaldi Fighting Brotherhood in Spain - ten years after the death of Alexander, but absolutely the richer in data and, relatively, closer to the event. Documents of undisputed historical validity, especially with respect to the Death Act, twenty years later (28), which has an exclusively bureaucratic value and does not offer any documentation on the cause of Grelli's death, since it was not possible to find the minutes of the Commission that he drafted it, as we have already complained. As for the date of death, day, month and year, it coincides with the documents mentioned above, and in the Act of presumed death. But let's see what new elements the documents of the pension operation initiated by Abraham bring. They come from various sources: the oldest is drawn up by the Consul General of Italy in Nice, who, acting as a notary, certifies Grelli's death on the basis of "four known and suitable witnesses"; the second is drawn up by the secretariat of the ex-Garibaldi fighting brotherhood in Spain, which certifies the death on the basis of «the results of the documents in its possession». They coincide on the date - night 12-13 September 1938 - and on the cause of death - firearm, enemy machine gun -. But they differ on the toponym in which the event took place; "Arganda in the Ebro area" according to the witnesses summoned by the consul; "The Sierra Caballs on the Ebro" according to the data of the former Garibaldi Brotherhood fighting in Spain. The geographical and chronological error of the first is evident: Arganda, a few kilometers from the capital, is one of the places where the long battle of Madrid took place, which took place in the last months of 1936, until April 1937, that is a year and a half and more before Alexander's death; Sierra Caballs is the place where the battle of the Ebro was taking place in the days when the Grelli fell, from May 1938 to September 1938. The confusion in which the witnesses of the consul of Nice have incurred confirms the chronology indicated by us for the departure of Grelli for Spain, since the geographical error could document a possible participation in the battle of Madrid, in the first phase of his stay in Spain, which we have, in fact, placed in the last months of 1936. Therefore we define the data of Grelli's death, together with the details connected to them, as follows: - date: night between 12 and 13 September 1938; - place: front of the Ebro, Sierra Caballs; - cause: died on the spot following wounds sustained in combat from enemy machine gun bursts, firearms; - burial: the burial place is not known, because the body remained in enemy territory having prevented its recovery during the night; - military situation: soldier, volunteer enlisted in the IV Company, II Battalion "Garibaldi". The battle of the Ebro - July 26 - September 23, 1938 - stands out for its "terrible", compared to all previous military events, in a war that had lasted for two years. Historians tell (29): never seen such a bloody battle and such quantity of artillery, tanks and aviation concentrated on the Ebro. The republican army had crossed the river by order of the government, which was looking for a military success, temporarily achieved, but immediately blocked by the influx of Francoist reinforcements, exceptional and impressive, which determined tragic consequences. It was communicated several times that the "Garibaldi" brigade was in difficulty, in a compromised situation. But whenever the Fascists launched an attack, the Garibaldians emerged, as if by a miracle, from underground, from the semi-destroyed trenches, causing losses and suffering more serious ones, to the point that when the brigade was sent to reserve, only nine hundred fighters. The number of dead and wounded was so great that it could not be covered by the arrival of new volunteers, hindered, moreover, by the growing difficulties in crossing the borders, strictly controlled by the "commissions" set up by the non-intervention committee. The veteran Garibaldi's soldiers (30) tell us: «the armament superiority of the Francoists was crazy. We did not have tanks, we did not have aviation, and the two machine guns supplied were not usable due to lack of bullets. The shotgun with thirty rounds in the barrel and the only two hand grenades we had, did not put us in a position to defend ourselves, under a deluge of cannon fire that came at us, exposed as we were open-faced, without a shrub or a bush that sheltered, on bare and stony ground. We settle down on the ground, waiting for the blow to pass by. In a single day, twenty times, we withdrew from the heights of the sierra, and for as many times we regained them. There was no longer a porter service, there was no drink, there was no food. We went to get it, when it was possible, in the warehouses, which were increasingly lacking. Because the rear, if they could still be called that, had only one task, that of collecting the dead and helping the wounded ... In the evening the group was reconstituted, which diminished day by day: in a single day, - the memory he is very much alive - we had fifty left from the two hundred we were ». And, on the night of 12 to 13 September - we add - a "minus one" of those present was Alessandro Grelli. They saw him lifeless in the opposing field, where he had rashly pushed himself, without being able to escape the enemy fire, which also raged on the dead (31). The tragic situation lasted until 23 September, when the order of the "despedida" arrived, the withdrawal of the BI, made necessary under the pressure of the United Nations Society, to slow down the influx of external aid to Franco, and perhaps also to put an end to the massacre of the fighters of the two fronts. The anti-fascists, as the veterans testify, had not known anything in advance, but they realized that it would be absurd to continue this carnage. More than fifty years after that event we have caught in the stories of some veterans of the BI - not only of Italian origin - some shadow, almost like a regret, an afterthought, the questioning of their voluntary participation, so dramatically closed by order of the "despedida", as to make one lose the reasons. But those few add that in the current situation the struggle for freedom still has to continue. The detachment from his Spanish comrades is defined as "painful" by some Garibaldians and only partially alleviated by the preparation of the spectacular parade for the Barcelona Diagonal, which took place at the end of October. The veterans never saw any of the prisoners again, because they were all murdered by the fascists. For them, fate reserved internment in French concentration camps, determined by the complex and politically contradictory situation of relations between Spain and France. More than a hundred veterans managed to escape from Argèles or Vernet and among them some entered the resistance to the Vichy government; others entered to fight among the partisans in various countries of Northern Europe. Those of them who presented themselves, challenging fate, at the border of Ponte S. Luigi, were arrested and sent to police confinement, with destination, for the most part, Ventotene. In the interrogation reports that they underwent, it is noted that they never wanted to denounce anyone responsible for their decision to voluntarily participate in the war in Spain, and sometimes proudly declare that they are convinced "that they have done their duty". The rare times that they indicate persons or circumstances, they do so in a generic way, so as not to offer investigators a possible trail of research, which is difficult, however, to follow four or five years later. From confinement, Garibaldi's ex-combatants were freed in 1943 - 25 July 1943 - and in the following months they wanted to continue their political struggle by entering, as organizers, the partisan struggle. The members of the primitive nucleus of Bertieri's group conclude their history of political emigrants with a common characteristic, albeit in the specificity of personal situations, which can be interpreted as the signal of the crisis that the phenomenon of political emigration was going through, in the imminence of the outbreak of World War II, about three years before the fall of fascism: they all saved their lives and lived for a long time in republican Italy, which they had also contributed to building, at home, and this due to circumstances not lucky or fortuitous, but for voluntary, carefully calibrated political choices and decisions. September "disbarred" by repentance in 1930, he lived in Rome until 1950; Gattini lived in the country where he was born and escaped any sanction, because he had repeatedly and insistently denied the political faith he shared with Grelli and Bertieri and even their friendship, declaring that he hardly knew them, and that he was always been a fascist. Fascist and moreover persecuted by the trustee of the St. Laurent du Var beam, only because he had not been able to pay the arrears of the PNF card issued to him since 1934. Bertieri, the hero of Sarzanese anti-fascism, wrote in 1940, in his own hand, a question to Mussolini "Your Excellency the Head of the Government of Rome", in which he asks to "be able to freely and definitively return to his homeland", committing himself to " no longer dealing with politics "and" devoting oneself to family and work ". He was not answered. He insists with a second request addressed to the Delegation for repatriation and assistance, managed by the Italian Armistice Commission with France. The application was rejected "due to the poor political record" of the applicant, who "was still poorly remembered in the fascist circle of Sarzana". Bertieri does not give up and expatriates without authorization. On March 13, 1943, he was arrested at the Menton border and transferred to La Spezia, where the Court, by order of July 9, assigned him to police confinement for a period of three years in a small town near L'Aquila. It is likely that the ordinance has suffered some delay until it reaches the historic date of September 8th. Which certainly changed the fate of Bertieri. Finally, Tarducci presents a case in itself: we have not found the date of his death, not even in the country of his birth, nor the evolution of his political history. Let us suppose that by virtue of the years of emigration matured since 1926 he has naturalized and definitively integrated into French society. To unearth the story of Alessandro Grelli from oblivion - we stated it in the Introduction - we carried out this research. The silence of the living people of Umberto weighs on him who, despite having known him, remember him so vaguely that it seems they never knew him. We therefore want to suggest a further path of research that we have carried out, without any result: given that among the "Umbertidesi residing in Nice" signatories of the plaque located in the atrium of the municipal residence of Umbertide and three of the texts summoned by the Consul General of Nice for the Act of Notoriety who are, in fact, two natives of Umbertide, and one of Città di Castello, there is some probable identity, which would mean that living people, or their descendants, who have known Alexander, are traced, we hope that the search for others will have better luck (32). Note: (1) Silvestri M., The decline of Western Europe, Turin, Einaudi, 1954, III, p. 399. (2) Rosselli C., in «Justice and freedom», April 1937. They were called Radio Barcelona, Radio Valencia, Radio Madrid, Radio Toulouse. Others did not indicate their geographical origin in their denomination, such as Radio Verdad, a souped-up Spanish station that broadcast from Italian stations, renamed after the battle of Guadalajara in Radio Falsidad. Even in the silence of the ether - Rosselli observes - war was fought. (3) Silvestri M., cit., P. 360. (4) Rosselli C., Today in Spain, tomorrow in Italy, Turin, Einaudi, 1967. It is in one of the speeches contained in this pamphlet that was printed for the first time in Paris that Rosselli launches the appeal «Today here , tomorrow in Italy ", which in the following January will become" Today in Spain, tomorrow in Italy ", as already noted. (5) AA.W., The International Brigades, La Pietra, 1976, p. 83. The Czechoslovakian Communist Party, which was the most active force that rose to defend the Spanish anti-fascist fighters, also launched the slogan "In Madrid there is also a fight for Prague". (6) There was an important mobilization of intellectuals. In this regard, we cannot escape the suggestion of the verses of Pablo Neruda, who participated intensely in the aid and solidarity campaign for the cause of republican Spain: "I remember, years ago, in Paris, / one evening I spoke to the crowd / I came to ask aid for republican Spain / for the people in their struggle ... »Canto Generale XXXIX - 1945 - P. Neruda - Poesie, Florence, Hoepli, 1962. In which, a few years later, the poet gathers the heroes of the anti-Francoist war to the heroes of Latin America, on a memorable occasion in Brazilian history. (7) Silvestri M., cit., P. 271. The decree is published in the Official Gazette of 2/2/1937. Silvestri comments on this "... by punishing the recruiters, that is, the government itself." (8) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Zangarelli Emilio. The native Zangarelli of Pietralunga, enlisted in the Death Battalion stationed in Santa Perpetua di Moguda should have received a letter "in the Barracks 19 July of the Red Militias of Barcelona ”sent to him by his brother, intercepted and by the recipient never read. It is attached to his file and contains the news of the resolutions of the French Chamber. We add that Zangarelli, to justify and deny his participation in the war, claims that he went to Barcelona to visit it, since he worked in France in Perigueux, a town very close to the Spanish border. (9) ACS, DGPS Ministry, Volunteers enlisted in the Spanish War for the Red Army, Envelopes 62, 63, 64, Years 1937, 1938. These are three very bulky envelopes that contain unnumbered papers, also referring to 1936. the leaflet described is contained therein. (10) ACS, DGPS Ministry, cit. The ships were called "Villa de Madrid" and "Ciudad de Barcelona". (11) ACS, Grelli Alessandro, CPC. The news of Grelli's enrollment in the Laroche group can only be read in the papers of the CPC dossier in ACS. In this regard, we report that we have not found any news regarding the Laroche group, neither from the live information of our former Garibaldi friends, nor in the various CPC files consulted, nor in general information works, nor in specific works or in French and Spanish encyclopedias and Italian. However, we can make some hypotheses. If Laroche stands for Laroque, it could be connected with Pierre Laroque, a figure who in the 1930s took an active interest in the trade union problems of emigrants, recognizing their important role in replacing the shortage of French manpower. By his name it may have been called a group of volunteers, as has happened for other characters. Laroche can refer to a locality in the Loire - La Roche La Meuliere - where a chemical products factory worked, where many emigrants worked. We learned the news of the Laroche la Meuliere factory from the file of the Terni anarchist Conti Ardito, who started from this locality, but does not refer to a group with that name (see ASP, Inv. Quest., Conti fasc. Ardito). (12) ASP, Inv. Quest. fasc. by Baciotti Guido, Bernardini Vincenzo, Carnevali Settimio, Galli Guido, Giacometti Giuseppe, Zangarelli Emilio. They are all Umbrian militiamen, to whom we will refer for news about their transfer to Spain and the reasons for participating in the war. (13) ASP, Inv. Quest. fasc. Galli Guido. Galli tells us that the newspaper "Esclaireur de Nice et du Sud-Ouest" hosted, at the end of 1936, an advertisement from the Spanish government with a request for drivers and mechanics. There were those who "knew" that "work" meant enlistment and started out as a convinced volunteer. But there were those who were surprised by the trick and tried to escape. As for Galli, he uses the advertisement in the French newspaper to try to deny his participation in the war, which was instead effective in the role of driver of the republican army. (14) ACS, DGPS Ministry, cit. In Basel, Lugano and Zurich, those coming from Germany and all of Northern Europe were welcomed by special bureaux. In Genoa, volunteers from Southern and Northern Italy gathered at the famous "Bar della Borsa". Everyone passed through the Union Bridge, on the border with France, from where the last stage began. (15) ASP, Inv. Quest. fasc. Lightning Mariano, cit. Lightning says that in many French cities, especially in the North, the Spanish People's Relief Committee took care of isolated departures: it paid, for example, the train ticket from Paris to Perpignan to Italian and other nationals volunteers, and he gave them L. 50 - it was not cheap - for what they might need during the trip. At the border they were awaited by a Spanish border committee, which was responsible for accompanying volunteers to Spain. (16) AA.W., The International Brigades, cit., P. 180. He reports other data: about 5000 volunteers were Italian, of which 1822 were communists, 137 socialists, 124 anarchists, 55 militants of radical democratic parties. More than half of the volunteers were workers. The largest group of volunteers was the "non-party" group. (17) ASP, Inv. Quest. fasc. Lightning Mariano, cit. Speaking of the strong flow from Toulon to Perpignan, Fulmini observes that the volunteers formed groups of even a hundred at a time, anarchist exiles. and communists. Their departure - here is the interesting observation of Lightning, who was a character who was particularly attentive to things - was not hidden, on the contrary, in the days before the volunteers made farewell visits to friends, and in the local Chamber of Labor took place a farewell reception, of which Fulmini read the report in the local press. On the merits, the Consul of Italy complains that "the French local authorities ignore or pretend to ignore and every now and then they impose the" duty "to" stop " some volunteers about to leave, to announce it to the newspapers, to document French neutrality, but these were isolated cases ». The Lightning captures the shrewd objectivity of the consular authority. (18) AA.W., The International Brigades, cit. Albacete had been chosen by the Spanish government because it was far from the trajectory of military aviation. The BL was born in Albacete on October 14, 1936, after the arrival of the first five hundred volunteers, belonging to various nationalities, including Italians. In the same month, still in Albacete, the formation of the "Garibaldi" Battalion was decided, in which Italians from all the political components of the democratic movement converged. (19) The "Carnet Militar", of which we are in possession of a photocopy, given to us by the former Garibaldino Gaspare Francioli, whom we would like to thank warmly, bears the serial number, the photograph, the political party of the holder, the date of his entry into Spain, and the issue of the «Carnet», the military rank, the illnesses contracted, any injuries and consequent hospitalization, leave, services on the various fronts, the description of the military uniform supplied and its replacements. Finally it indicates the "pay" in the various periods. On the last page of the "Carnet" a long stamped mention, signed by the Head of the administrative service of the BL, authorizes the soldier to participate in the "retreat" - in Italian in the stamp - and recognizes him the merit of having fought for independence of the Spanish Republic. (20) Rosselli C., Today in Spain, tomorrow in Italy, cit. Rosselli does not have an exemplary memory of military training, he defines it as "summary": the rifle was delivered without cartridges, and then, "up there", at the front, the militiaman would have "the cartridges, the helmet, the bombs , shoes, socks, plates and spoons ». Instead, "up there" - Rosselli concludes - there will be nothing, or very little and "a column leaves as soon as a truck of rifles arrives". (21) See no. 16. (22) AA.W., The International Brigades, cit. From the frontispiece photo. (23) See Appendix I, Telegraphic Circular (1937) and Telespresso (1937) Appendix V. (24) This is the case of Garibaldino Mosca Giuseppe, a lieutenant, who rightly boasts of having been at the front for twenty-two months, for the same time that Grelli was in Spain, with the only interruption, however short, of a hospitalization due to illness in Benicasin, as we have seen from the lists of hospitalized patients also in Salamanca in AHNGC, where the Moscow whose nationality is not mentioned is, according to the spelling - moska josef - considered to come from the East. (25) ASP, Inv. Quest., Fasc. Polidori Francesco. Polidori spent the first period of his volunteer work in a Spanish hospital and was sent on leave shortly after because he was suffering from a serious illness. In Nice, at his home, he recovered discreetly, to the point that he returned to Spain, where he was immediately the victim of an airplane bomb, which did not injure him but, due to the great blast, caused him a concussion, later to which he was definitively repatriated. (26) The DL 19 March 1948, n. 249 with which "pensions and war checks are extended to Italian citizens, who, being part of anti-Francoist formations, have reported mutilations and disabilities as a result of their intervention in the Spanish Civil War, and to their families, in the event of death" is reported in its full text in Appendix VII. Abraham's pension application bears the date of January 2, 1949, with a delay, however granted, with respect to the terms of the Decree, due to the difficulties in finding the documents to be exhibited. (27) DGT, The War Pensions Office, requested by us, provided us with certified photocopies of the documents acquired, at the time of the pension procedure started by Grelli Abramo, Alessandro's father as reported in the introduction. They are: 1) Notoriety deed of the Consul General of Nice dated 3 November 1948 (Appendix VI); 2) Letter from the Promoting Committee of the former Garibaldi Brotherhood of Spain, dated May 12, 1949. We give a detailed description of each of them, which will make the explanation in the text clearer. 1) The Deed of Notoriety on headed paper, free consular mark, is drawn up in Nice, at the headquarters of the Consulate General of Italy: the Consul acting as Notary, at the request of the Mayor of Umbertide, with sheet no. 7302 of 21 September 1948 - letter not found in the offices of the Municipality of Umbertide a Protocol - summons four witnesses "all known and suitable", who consulted separately and jointly certify, under oath that "Mr. Alessandro Grelli, known as Achille, of Abraham and Maria Ercolanellí, born in Umbertide on October 27, 1907, volunteer in BI, died in combat and as a result of gunshot wounds in nucnN From Spain - Ebro front, in the night from 12 to 13 September 1938 ". The ritual formula follows: "We Consul General requested have drawn up the present deed that comes with us and with the Chancellor signed by the appearing parties". Signatures follow. 2) Letter from the Promoting Committee of the Ex-Garibaldi Brotherhood of Spain "Somo hermanos de Espana y Italia", dated from Bologna 12/5/1949: the secretariat of the Committee addresses the letter on headed paper to the Grelli Family, Umbertide, with the subject " declaration of death of the Garibaldian Alessandro Grelli ». The Brotherhood speaks explicitly of "documents in its possession". The declaration prompted us to search the Archive of the «Brotherhood ...» which today, having become extinct, the «Brotherhood» is transferred to the IRB. Here we have read the card headed to Grelli, which is not free from inaccuracies, already highlighted, and is weak in reporting the "documents in his possession". In fact, the death of Grelli is "reported" by Ferrer Visentini, who today does not remember anything, and by his family, who, as we know, were the least informed. On the other hand, the news that emerges from the rest of the letter is interesting: «during the fighting that took place in the Sierra Caballs in the night from 12 to 13 September, hit by bursts of enemy machine guns, he died on the spot. Therefore, since the body remained in enemy territory, the burial place is ignored ”. (28) Presidency of the Council, «Interministerial Commission for the formation and reconstitution of death or birth certificates not drawn up or lost or destroyed by war», in compliance with the Royal Decree Law of 18 October 1942, n. 1520 and Legislative Decree Lieutenancy April 5, 1946. The "Commission ..." on October 12, 1957 draws up the death certificate of Alessandro Grelli which, with the authorization of the Court of Perugia, is transcribed by the Municipality of Umbertide in the Registers of the Dead. We have already noted that the minutes of the "Commission ..." which drew up the act and which should contain the data validating the act itself has not been traced, despite careful and appropriate investigations. (29) There are detailed accounts of the battle of the Ebro, both from a strategic point of view and from the angle of the political situation that determined the "Plan of the Ebro". Fundamental is the typed report that can be read in the Appendix to Hugh Thomas, History of the Spanish Civil War, Einaudi 1963. Of which Nicoletto Italo also speaks in Years of my life, Micheletti, 1980. Other works, already cited, are: AA.W ., The international brigades, translated from Spanish, which has the merit of a work written by historians of various nationalities, all those represented in the ranks of the BI. An extensive bibliography - historical works in various languages, anonymous or collective works, novels, newspapers, magazines etc. - updated to 1977 can be found in Brouè Pierre and Emile Temine, The Revolution and the War of Spain, Mondadori, 1980. As regards the archives, the work of Hugh Thomas offers a complete indication. (30) The most exhaustive testimony was given to us by the Garibaldian of Spain Vincent Tonelli, today President of the Garibaldini of Toulouse, whom we warmly thank. (31) Calandrone G., cit. The battle of the Ebro is narrated by the Garibaldino in dramatic pages, day by day, from August to 23 September. We were struck by the observation relating to the heights of the Sierra Caballs which, precisely in the days in which our Alexander met his death, seemed "immense skimmers, they were so pitted". We have pointed out the Calandrone among the few official texts that speak of Grelli. We add, in this context of our narration, that, in relation to the date of Grelli's death, Calandrone reports it on a day following the night of 12-13 September, moreover without specifying it and without reconstructing the circumstance of the night, which prevented the recovery of the his body. (32) The names are Agabiti Luigi fu Felice, born in Umbertide, on 1st January 1898, industrialist, residing in Nice; Lucaccioni Angelo, was Achille, born in Umbertide on 18 October 1898, bricklayer residing in Nice; Bastianelli Angelo di Florio, born in Città di Castello on 1 June 1907, shoemaker, resident in Nice. IV - Grelli in Spagna

Astorre Bellarosa Francesco Alunni Pierucci Antonio Rossetti Ebe Igi Alessandro Franchi Francesco Andreani Gabriele Santini Arsenio Brugnola Giuseppe Guardabassi Historical figures of the twentieth century In this subsection we propose the biographies of some characters who have played a role in the history of the city. Astorre Bellarosa Francesco Alunni Pierucci Antonio Rossetti Ebe Igi Francesco Andreani Alessandro Franchi Gabriele Santini Arsenio Brugnola Giuseppe Guardabassi Bruto Boldrini curated by Simona Bellucci Astorre Bellarosa He was born in 1895 in Umbertide into a family that includes father, mother and twelve children. Orphaned by his father as a child, his grandfather, a coachman at the Marinelli family, takes care of his numerous offspring and Astorre can continue to study up to the eighth grade. After school, he learns the job of carpenter, but in 1915 at the age of 20, he is called back to war and fights on the Karst where he is wounded, sustaining a slight but permanent injury to one hand. Upon returning from the war he married Tecla Beati from Umbria, with whom he had three daughters, the second of whom died at an early age. He manages to open a sawmill in Via Roma with a partner Riego Maccarelli, a well-known anti-fascist, who also employs several employees, practicing the profession of carpenter with great skill. Animated by deep political convictions, he joined the Italian Communist Party since its foundation and remained deeply attached to his political faith even during the Fascist period. Adherence to communism is always combined with great admiration for Giuseppe Mazzini, whose political thought he studies as a self-taught and never gives up wearing the republican tie. He was subjected to an attack by the fascists before they came to power and the threats were repeated even during the twenty years, so much so that he always keeps a rope and a knife in his room at the back of Via Roma, from which he sometimes escapes in in a hurry. After the bombing of Umbertide, displaced in Serra Partucci, he sees his sawmill on fire from above, set on fire by the Nazi-Fascists in retaliation. The partner Riego, captured, is taken to prison in Perugia, tortured and then released. After the war, he continued to work as a carpenter but as an employee, then he opened a bar in via Roma. He became mayor in 1945, first appointed by the Allies and then elected in April 1946 until 1952. Later, he continued his administrative activity as councilor in the second council of the mayor Serafino Faloci. After the end of the administrative experience, he remains active in politics, uncompromising from a moral point of view as well as generous and a lover of company in private life. In 1969, the year of his death, he wants a secular funeral early in the morning and to be buried underground if cremation was not possible. His former employees build him a poor wooden coffin as he had arranged and carry him on the shoulders to the local cemetery. Francesco Alunni Pierucci We can speak of him as the most illustrious political and trade union exponent of Umbertide in the twentieth century. He was born on 4 June 1902 into a peasant family formed by his father Alessandro, his mother Matilde Pasquini, the brothers Astorre and Antonio and his sisters Linda and Veronica. At the age of two, he lost his right arm following an accident and, due to the disability, his parents made him continue his studies with great sacrifices. He attended up to the third technical high school, which later allowed him to earn a living, giving lessons in mathematics. The family is sent away from the farm after the killing of a pig without the owner's permission during the First World War and Francesco grows up in this climate of oppression, developing a deep sense of rebellion in the face of the injustice received. At 15 he joined the socialist section of Umbertide and later, after the communist split, he joined the PCI becoming secretary of the Upper Tiber section. Targeted by the fascists, in December 1923 he expatriates to Nice, where his brothers were already there, opens a grocery shop here and becomes the coordinator of a group of anti-fascist political emigrants. In Nice he also met Sandro Pertini, in 1933 he moved to Toulon and then to Lyon. In 1940, at the time of the Vichy Republic, he was interned in the Vernet concentration camp. He was then handed over to the Italian authorities and passed through various prisons here and finally sent to confinement in Maierà. He returned to Perugia after 25 July 1943 and resumed political activity in the Upper Tiber, being part of the CLN but in November, due to a tip, he was arrested and tortured. He remained in prison until the liberation of Perugia in 1944, after which he resumed political and trade union activity until he became the national secretary of the CGIL tobacconists. After the war he marries a Ligurian partisan, Mirella Alloisio, who becomes his inseparable companion. In 1948 he was elected senator for the PCI in the college of the Upper Tiber. From 1952 to 1958 he was mayor of Città di Castello. He will then be the founder of the newspaper “Il sulco”, which addresses the peasants and also deals with the cooperative movement, managing to heal the critical situation of the Molino di Umbertide. In the latter part of his public life, he wrote several books on the political struggles of the workers and peasants movement in Umbria. He died in 1985. Antonio Rossetti Antonio Rossetti is a peasant from the Petrelle di Umbertide, born in 1915 who, as secretary of the local Chamber of Labor, is the animator of the claims of sharecroppers after the war, as well as municipal councilor elected from the ranks of the Communist Party for three consecutive times in 1946 , 1952 and 1956. He held the position of municipal councilor in the second legislature from 1952 to 1956. We remember that, to organize the union struggle, he even came to Gubbio and returned late at night by bicycle. Shy and reserved as determined in the action, Rossetti, in the heated climate of the strikes for the De Gasperi award, ie for the division of the products between the owner and the sharecropper at 53%, is accused, together with other trade unionists from the Upper Tiber, to have extorted signatures of acceptance of the award by the peasants and liable to preventive arrest before the trial against him. He goes into hiding, kept hidden by the peasants of the Faldo and Petrelle area, constitutes himself a few months later and is sentenced, even serving a few months in prison. Nothing could bend the tenacious organizer who, released from prison, immediately set about setting up an even more ambitious undertaking: the birth of the Molino Popolare di Umbertide of which he was president. Overwhelmed by the crisis of the Molino in 1964, he is paying greater managerial responsibilities as the highest exponent. Since then, he has retired to private life, cultivating a piece of land with his wife Elisabetta, a tabacchina, in his Petrelle, probably embittered by the affair that hit him. His merits as an indefatigable activist have been removed and not sufficiently remembered even on the occasion of his disappearance, which took place in 2013 Sources: Simona Bellucci: Umbertide in the 20th century 1943-2000, Nuova Prhomos, 2018. EBE IGI The story of the very young violin virtuoso torn from life by a cruel and dramatic fate Edited by Fabio Mariotti by Amedeo Massetti A rare talented violinist. Today she would be remembered among the great Umbrian musicians and not only, if a serious illness had not ended her very young life. And Umbertide would have counted her among his many famous people. Ebe Igi, daughter of Ivo and Eletra Butturi, was born in Umbertide, in via Mancini, on 26 August 1912 from a family of the small town bourgeoisie: her father was a municipal employee, her mother was a housewife. He lived in via Petrogalli n. 6, in the heart of the S. Giovanni district. She had started studying the instrument at the beginning of 1921, at the age of nine, the only girl in a group of young people who attended the violin school of Professor Decio Ajò, recently established in the town with the name of "School of bow", and at the which the Municipality disbursed a contribution of 150 lire per month. The council, chaired by Settimio Rometti, first socialist mayor of Umbertide, on 19 January 1921 had also resolved to establish ten free places, reserved for young people between 8 and 14 years of poor families: three boys had submitted the application for registration to the school. Maestro Ajò taught permanently in Gubbio and came to Umbertide once a week. But Ebe, very passionate about music, went with her mother for another two days in the city of Sant'Ubaldo, on the Apennine train, to take other lessons from him. He then studied in Bologna with Maestro Supino as his sister, Vittorina Igi, who died almost a hundred years old in Frascati on June 22, 2004, sometimes remembered. The parents followed their daughter's musical activity attentively, indulging her passion. Little Hebe turned out to be very gifted and continued her studies successfully for nine years. Her art did not go unnoticed in Umbertide where while still a student she held applauded concerts as a soloist, accompanied on the piano by maestro Alessandro Franchi, director of the musical band, or by the pianist and composer Raffaele Zampa, a great musician as well as a notary. The girl graduated in "Violin Teaching" in 1930 at the Royal Philharmonic Academy of Bologna, with Maestro Angelo Consolini, one of the leading exponents of the Bolognese string school, with the "magnificent score" of 30/30, "prize deserved to his noble labors "and his" very happy temperament as a violinist ". But she will not be able to see the dream of a brilliant career come true because she will die in the hospital of Perugia, just eighteen, a few months later, on November 12, 1930. Her sudden and immature death greatly affected the people of Umbria from whom she was known and loved: everything the country attended the funeral. For his tomb under the "arcades", in the right hemicycle of the Umbertide cemetery, the young artist Corrado Cagli, then artistic director at Ceramiche Rometti, sculpted a shiny ceramic bas-relief in "Nero Fratta", depicting a face of a woman leaning back, resting on a wing, a severed twig and a violin that seems hopelessly abandoned. A polyphonic choir today brings its name to Umbertide: the Chorus Fractae Ebe Igi. It was set up by a group of enthusiasts in 2000, under the guidance of Professor Nicola Lucarelli. It is currently directed by Maestro Paolo Fiorucci, has over thirty choristers, has a repertoire that ranges in the widest fields, from classic - traditional to modern. Recurring this year (Ed 2012) the centenary of the birth of Ebe, the members will organize an event in his honor in which they will remember his extraordinary musical gifts, making his life and artistic activity known. Some news on the concerts of the very young Hebe taken up by the newspapers of the time The municipal violin school, in 1926 , worked well and there were many young people from Umbertide who attended it. On Sunday 14 March , in the theater of the Scholastic Patronage, a musical essay was held by the students of Umbertide and Gubbio of the school directed by Professor Decio Ajò. The audience was numerous, "great applause greeted the end of each piece of the interesting program, perfectly executed by the individual students, among which Cardinals and Miss Igi distinguished themselves" (L'Assalto, Perugia, March 18-19, 1926) . Ebe Igi was one of the best students: he was highly applauded at the age of fourteen in his violin solos. The symphony of the Thief Magpie aroused great enthusiasm in the evening (an encore was requested), “masterfully directed by Maestro Franchi while Dr. Zampa sat with the well-known valentia on the piano”. On March 31, 1929 , Maestro Alessandro Franchi accompanied a violin concert by Ebe Igi on the piano. The seventeen-year-old girl was about to graduate from the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna under the guidance of Maestro Consolini. He played in the large hall of the “L'Unione” club in front of a large audience, mostly women. A huge success. The performance was much applauded, especially in Beriot's ninth Concerto where the violinist had "proved to possess sweetness and robustness of cavata, perfect intonation and a truly surprising sense of interpretation" (Il Messaggero, Rome, 9 April 1929). It was not the first time that the maestro played with the young Ebe, a girl he esteemed for her rare musical gifts and tried to enhance in every way. Franchi will also accompany Ebe on the piano on the evening of 22 September, in a concert held in a classroom of the kindergarten. The girl will perform with him also the following evening at Umbertide's “L'Unione” club. On Sunday 11 May 1930 , the "professor Ebe Igi" held another violin concert accompanied by Maestro Franchi. She had just graduated with full marks from the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna. To organize the musical audition was the dean of the vocational training schools, Falorni, who had invited the musicians to the great hall of the institute. A large audience, made up of school groups, the Podestà, political authorities and teachers listened with interest to the two good musicians, who had an extraordinary success (La Nazione, Florence, 18 May 1930). Ebe was considered a "true and great artist with an impeccable execution" (La Tribuna, Rome, 14 May 1930), who knew how to "bring out from her" Bresciano "effects of sweetness and intense sound that are truly surprising" (La Nazione, Firenze , May 18, 1930). Franchi, as usual, accompanied the piano "with that conscience and artistic competence that had always distinguished him". The program was demanding and interesting (Part 1: Simonetti, Madrigale; Frontini, Serenata Araba; Bruch, Concerto (op. 26): a) Allegro moderato, b) Adagio, c) Energetic finale. 2nd Part: D'Ambrosio, Canzonetta; Franchi, Melodic Intermezzo; Paganini, The Hunt; Wiennawski, a) Legend, b) Tarantella Scherzo); the performance of the music "was masterful in reality" and the "virtuosity of the violinist was able to show itself in the widest form, giving proof of a profoundly expressive and educated feeling" (La Nazione, Florence, 18 May 1930). Sources: Historical research by Amedeo Massetti - 2012 Concert program at the "L'Unione" club Arch group of master Ajò in Gubbio Group of arches at the Teatro dei Riuniti Gravestone in black Fratta by Corrado Cagli The school building in 1921 The school building in the 1930s The Garibaldi school in the 1980s The centenary party. November 2019 December 4, 1945. The funeral of Quirino Pucci, Giuseppe Rosati and Giuseppe Starnini The ceremony in Piazza Matteotti. Behind you can see the rubble of the bombing FRANCESCO ANDREANI curated by Fabio Mariotti Illuminated Mayor of the early years of the last century Francesco Andreani, a lawyer, held the office of Mayor of Umbertide from 5 February 1910 to 4 November 1919. Estimated by everyone, he carried out his role with competence and foresight. He was responsible for the construction of the grandiose elementary school building in Umbertide, by the architect Osvaldo Armanni, and other important public works. In addition to this, the construction of the rural schools, very important for those times, of San Benedetto, Pian d'Assino and Badia di Montecorona designed by Eng. Sozzi, the public houses in via XX Settembre, Viale Cesare Battisti behind the railway station, the bridge over the Rio stream which made the connection with Montone easier and safer. Electricity also arrived in 1915. Then the war brought considerable economic hardship which also considerably limited the municipal budget. Its Board was made up of Giuseppe Guardabassi, Rolando Santini, Carlo Bebi, Alberico Bebi, Silvio Ramaccioni and Quintilio Pucci. The family of Francesco Andreani, originally from Colle di Montecorona, moved to Umbertide in the last decades of the nineteenth century to manage a grocery store and a pasta factory in Piazza Umberto I (now Piazza Matteotti), in the premises of the current bank. Born on 19 July 1861 to Michele Andreani and Francesca Fuscagni, Francesco graduated brilliantly in law from the University of Perugia. He was a well-known civilian, with a "controversial and convincing" oratory. He exercised his profession in Perugia, with frequent returns to Umbertide where he held the office of Mayor for about a year, in 1890, when the electoral victory of the socialist-republicans overthrew, for the first time in the city's history, the administration of the conservatives; he was still Mayor without interruption from 1910 to 1919. For several years he was also municipal councilor and councilor for the municipality of Perugia. (in the council of Ulisse Rocchi who brought public transport and water to Perugia) Francesco Andreani did not officially join any party, even if of markedly republican sentiments. Enrolled in Freemasonry, he shared Italy's entry into the war in 1915 against Austria and carried out intense patriotic propaganda. He did not want to join fascism which in 1919 began its rise to power with violence and abuse. In Perugia, with other citizens, he rearranged and ran a team of volunteers for accidents called the "White Cross", he collaborated to found, in 1909, the "XX June lay recreation center" for children, he actively worked on the realization of People's University. With Francesco Buitoni, Leone Ascoli and Annibale Spagnoli, Francesco Andreani set up a sugared almond factory in Perugia on 30 November 1907 which would later become the "Perugina". In 1910 he was a candidate of the left in the College of Perugia 1, for the elections to the national parliament, but was defeated by the liberal-monarchist Romeo Gallenga. He died on 21 March 1932. The Municipality of Umbertide, on 30 October 1947, named a street after him. The imposing school building (now Garibaldi primary school) It had been in office for just a year that the Andreani junta, in the first months of 1911, began to ask itself the problem of the schools of the capital and of the hamlets. In a resolution of 26 March it was stated that “in the capital the current building is insufficient and not very decent. In the countryside for some schools it was impossible to find the place and for some others there are classrooms that are absolutely indecent and unsuitable for their intended purpose. It is therefore essential to build, first of all in the capital, a new building that meets all the modern educational needs and others for the country schools that lack a decent and possible place ". The project of the new school of the capital was entrusted to the architect prof. Osvaldo Armanni, a highly professional figure with consolidated experience, famous, among other things, for having designed the Palace of Justice in Rome, better known as the “Palazzaccio” and the Synagogue. He was born in Perugia to a family originally from Assisi for which he designed his last work, the National Boarding School "Prince of Naples". The size of the building arose from the need to have at least 20 classes available for the attendance of 457 pupils, plus offices and various services. There was full awareness of going to meet a considerable expense, so much so that initially the expenditure of over 220 thousand lire was foreseen, then reduced to 200 thousand lire by the Ministry of Education at the request of the opposition that asked for a reduction of the cost of the intervention. This involved, among other things, the cancellation of the gymnasium that had been foreseen in the initial project. The works began in the summer of 1914 and ended in March 1917. Just three years for a demanding job with the technical means of the time. During the winter of 1917-1918 the building was used as a military hospital for the wounded of the First World War. Only on April 5, 1919 the fourteen elementary classes settled in the new structure. After 100 years, in November last year, the Garibaldi school celebrated its centenary of life in grand style with all its current components, with the city authorities and with the hundreds and hundreds of students who over the years have attended his classrooms. The Headmaster Dr. Silvia Reali commented the event as follows: “I am very happy to be part of the Garibaldi school and to be able to celebrate this prestigious event together with the teaching staff, all staff, students and families. Few schools boast so much history and architecture so beautiful and, I would say, modern due to the insights that the architect had in creating varied, bright, spacious and truly welcoming learning environments ". Francesco Andreani's photo is by Bruno Porrozzi The photos of the school are from the historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide The Centenary photo is by Fabio Mariotti Sources: "Umbertide in the 20th century 1900 - 1946" by Roberto Sciurpa - Ediz. Municipality of Umbertide - 2006 based on historical archive research carried out by Amedeo Massetti. January 2, 1927. The Band with the new uniforms in front of the Collegiate 9 September 1928. Exhibition in Piazza Matteotti 1931. Concert programs for August and September 1934. The program of 9 September and the Sacra Spina in Preggio September 8, 1930. The concert in the square (Photo Mario Fornaci) October 4, 1934. Exhibition at Monte Corona 1946. Manifest with photos of the members of the band the cover of the book by A. Massetti ALESSANDRO FRANCHI Great composer and incomparable master of the city band at the turn of the two wars by Amedeo Massetti Alessandro Franchi has remained a myth for the old musicians who were lucky enough to know him. His name still arouses respect and admiration in young people today for the many times they have heard it pronounced with regret and moving reverence. Some elders of the band, until not many years ago, carried his photograph in the sheet music folder, keeping it with the devotion due to a relic. This is not surprising: Franchi, one of the greatest composers and conductors in the history of Italian band music, left Umbertide a truly profound mark of his art and his humanity. He was born in Bastia Umbra on May 1, 1887, to Napoleon, a 34-year-old shoemaker, and Isolina Petrini, a "housewife". Extraordinarily gifted, he had undertaken the study of music as a child; in his training he will meet great masters who will impress their signs on his fertile mind and on his sensitive soul. Since he was a boy he was part of the Banda di Bastia Umbra and played the role of organist in that parish church dedicating himself to teaching school choirs. In 1908 he began studying harmony under the guidance of the great Raffaele Casimiri di Gualdo Tadino. He then completed the harmony and counterpoint course with Armando Mercuri of Perugia; in the meantime he studied band instrumentation with maestro Bernardino Casetti, director of the municipal band of that city. In the school years 1910 - 11 he was in Bologna where he had practical composition lessons from Ottorino Respighi and, under the guidance of the masters Filippo Codivilla (Director of that Municipal Band) and Bonfiglioli (Music Chief of the 35th Infantry Regiment) completed the study of composition and band instrumentation. In June 1911 he obtained the Master Band Master's degree at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna, earning special praise from the conductor Marco Enrico Bossi in the conducting exam. In July of the same 1911 he was hired by the Municipality of Fojano della Chiana where he remained until February 1915 taking care, in addition to the band, of theatrical performances directing the operas: Bohème and Rigoletto and instructing the choirs (as well as said operas) of the Sonnambula , of the Puritans, of Norma, of the Elixir of Love, of the Barber of Seville etc. I also directed various vocal - instrumental concerts to the same “Garibaldi” theater. In 1914 he graduated from the Royal Musical Institute “L. Cherubini ”of Florence the diploma of license and tenor trombone teaching. In March 1915 he was hired by the Municipality of Umbertide but could only deal with a vocal - instrumental concert "Pro trousseau of the soldier" because in the following November he was called to arms and in February 1916 he reached the war front where he remained uninterrupted until November 1918 . After a long period in the front line he was called to the direction of Bande Divisionali and was part of the orchestra of the Second Army directed by Arturo Toscanini. By order of the Commander, the Army Corps instructed a choir of 350 soldiers who, with band accompaniment, performed the Grappa song, a hymn to the Baptists and other patriotic songs in a grandiose military gathering. In February 1919 he was sent to Innsbruck to direct the Military Band of that Occupation Corps. In the following April he was sent on leave and resumed the civil profession at the Municipality of Umbertide. He won several competitions for the positions of Maestro Director of music schools and Band Bodies including those held by the Municipalities of Massa, Orvieto, Foligno, Bibbiena, etc., but, for family reasons, he always remained here. Here, as well as giving his activity to the Band, he devoted himself with passion and disinterest to the education of numerous choirs of operas, scholastic and patriotic, and he concerted and directed the operettas: "Il Piccolo Balilla" and "Campane a Festa" of R. Corona; “A Race in the Mountains” by M. Cagnacci; "La Pietra dello Scandalo" and "Signorina Terremoto" by V. Billi and one of his operettas in a written act for children. He also took care of patriotic celebrations, charity shows. From the school year 1930 - 31 to 1940 he held the position of teacher of music and choral singing at the Secondary School of Professional Goodwill in Umbertide, also taking initiatives of various concerts for the musical culture of the pupils, introducing the pupils themselves as performers of famous choirs of operas and other kinds. Previously, from the year 1927 to 1933, he always carried out this role also in the supplementary course having a lower magistral character attached to the aforementioned School. In the field of Theater and Church he gave continuous and assiduous activity, both as organizer and director of vocal - instrumental concerts, and as organist and director of liturgical music performed within the local Schola Cantorum, which he himself founded. The “Musica Sacra” publishing house in Milan has published several of his compositions for voices and organ. Other various musical houses, then, have published several of his works for large and small bands. In October 1937 he obtained at the Royal Conservatory of Music “L. Cherubini ”of Florence the diploma in band instrumentation. After the end of the Second World War, Franchi, after having brilliantly passed the verification of the "Purge Commission" which judged public employees for the activities carried out during Fascism, was called in 1944 to fill the post of municipal archivist not being able to return yet to carry out his musical activity. It was the junta of the mayor Astorre Bellarosa, in 1945, who relieved Franchi from the administrative office to bring him back to carry out his activity as teacher and director of the city band "so that the teaching of music could recover in favor of the population and therefore the band could regain its importance also as an educating organ of the people's soul ”. On 4 December of that year, the bodies of three young volunteers who had given their lives for the construction of the new democratic Italy were brought back to Umbertide: Quirino Pucci and Giuseppe Rosati of the "Cremona Combat Group" and Giuseppe Starnini of the "Combat Group Legnano ". To welcome them with great emotion the whole city and the reconstituted town band. These are the words of thanks from the Mayor: "I sincerely thank the SV and this Band for their participation in the honors that the entire population of Umbertide has paid to the bodies of the volunteers who fell on the Ravenna front". 1946 and 1947 marked the beginning of the resumption of full band activity in Umbertide after the war period. There was the entry of new young people and the consolidation of the historical group. The band was then made up of 35 people of very low average age, together with older members such as Mario Villarini, Giovanni Bartolini, Francesco Lotti and Giuseppe Lazzarini. The rest were essentially young people, some recently returned from war or imprisonment (Giuseppe Coletti, Augusto Bruschi and Alvaro Lozzi) or from military service (Luigi Gambucci, Egidio Alunni, Aldo Rondini, Guido Giubilei, Luigi Briganti and Nello Migliorati ). Many eighteen-year-olds (Aldo Fiorucci, Aldo Cozzari, Nello Belia, Giordano Corgnolini, Nello Palazzoli) and in their early twenties Domenico Baldoni and Bruno Giubilei (21), Federico Lazzarini (23), Giuseppe Fiorucci (27). Finally, there were the very young Bruno Tarragoni Alunni (14), Rolando Rosati (15), Antonio Boldrini and Carlo Violini Alunno (16). President Burelli and his deputy Ceccarelli followed the activity with great participation, trying in every way to meet the needs of the musicians. The Band closed in 1947 on December 31st, at 5.30 pm, with a great concert in the square to solemnize the Constitution of the Italian Republic. Franchi was the legendary conductor of all time, loved by the boys who found in him a guide and in the musical activity a way to more serenely overcome the daily difficulties of such a difficult period, in which everything was missing. But his health, already unstable for some time, suddenly worsened and on April 5, 1948, at the age of 61, the master Alessandro Franchi died of a diabetic coma in his home in via Guidalotti 1. The dismay and pain of this premature death are unanimous in the village. His boys watched over him all night and then placed him in the coffin. The funeral took place on April 7, starting from the Collegiate Church among an immense crowd, moved. His band, directed by the young trumpet professor Pietro Franceschini, accompanied him to the cemetery, respecting his will, with the grave and poignant notes of "Heart that remembers", the funeral march he composed at the age of 23 in memory of maestro Giuseppe Censi . The photos are taken from the book by Amedeo Massetti The photos of the funeral of the fallen volunteers are from the Historical Photographic Archive of the Municipality of Umbertide Sources: Historical research by Amedeo Massetti for his book “Two centuries on the march - Umbertide and the Band” - Petruzzi Editore - 2008. In the book, the complete story of the master Franchi in the chapter "The epic of Franks". GABRIELE SANTINI Great conductor of the first half of the twentieth century. In the 1920s he was assistant to Toscanini's Scala and on several occasions he directed two sacred monsters of opera such as Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi by Nicola Lucarelli (From "Umbertide Cronache n.1 2002) Gabriele Santini was born in Perugia on January 20, 1886 from a family from Umbertide, the father was Pio Santini and the mother Carmela Nolaschi. He studied at the “F. Morlacchi ”cello and piano and later moved to the“ GB Martini ”Conservatory of Bologna where he completed his studies in composition with G. Minguzzi and P. Micci. He began his career as a conductor as early as 1904 and devoted himself almost exclusively to the operatic genre. After a first period at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, (later called Opera Reale, now Teatro dell'Opera) he was hired by various theaters in Latin America. He stayed for eight seasons at the Colon Theater in Buenos Aires (one of the most important in the South American continent) and later at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, at the Lyric Opera in Chicago and at the Manhattan Theater in New York. From 1925 to 1929 he was called to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as assistant to maestro Arturo Toscanini. He then returned to the Rome Opera where he remained permanently until 1933 and from 1944 to 1947 he also exercised the position of artistic director. In 1951 he directed the company of S. Carlo di Napoli in the tour in Paris, for the celebrations of Verdi's fiftieth anniversary. On that occasion, the works "A Masked Ball", "Joan of Arc" and the "Messa da Requiem" were performed under his guidance. He directed several seasons at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, in 1946 - the theater was destroyed and the performances were given at the Palazzetto dello Sport - and from 1960 to 1964, the year of his death. For the first time he presented to the public, among others, the works "Il re" by U. Giordano (1930), "Doctor Antonio" by F. Alfano (1949), "Pérsephone" by I. Strawlnsky (1956) and directed also the Italian premiere of “L'heure espagnole” by M. Ravel and “Christophe Colombe” by D. Millhaud. He also dedicated himself to the rediscovery of the masterpieces of the past by taking care of the first re-propositions of "La Favorita" by G. Donizetti, "Il ballo delle ingrate" by C. Monteverdi, "Fernando Cortez" by G. Spontini. Her repertoire also includes "Amella al ballo" by G. Menotti and "Medea" by L. Cherubini, a work rediscovered by Maria Callas and performed by the same, under the direction of our director, in 1955 in Rome. He died in Rome on November 13, 1964. His discography is quite extensive and includes among other things: Giordano's “Andrea Chenier” (with A. Stella, E Corelli, M. Sereni); the "Boheme" by Puccini (two editions, one with R. Carteri, Tagliavini and Taddei, a second with Renata Tebaldi, G. Lauri Volpi, T Gobbi); The "Triptych" by Puccini ("Il Tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica") with various artists including V. De Los Angeles, T. Gobbi, M. Del Monaco, P. Montarsolo; two editions of Verdi's “Don Carlos” (with A. Stella, Filipeschi, Labò, Gobbi, Bastianini, Cossotto, Christoff); Verdi's “Simon Boccanegra” (with M. Callas, Albanese, Savarese); Verdi's “Traviata” (with M. Callas, Albanese, Savarese); Verdi's “Ernani” (with M. Del Monaco and N. Rossi Lei-neni); "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini. Recordings made live in the 1950s have also recently been reissued on CD, in which we find Santini conducting the most beautiful names in the vocal scene of the time (R. Tebaldi, M. Callas, A. Stella, M. Del Monaco, F . Corelli, E. Cossotto and many others). Among these recordings, "The siege of Corinth" by G. Rossini (with R. Tebaldi, M. Petri, M. Picchi, M. Pirazzini ); “Fernando Cortez” by G. Spontini (with R. Tebaldi, A. Protti); “Lohengrin” by R. Wagner (with R. Tebaldi, G. Guelfi, E. Nicolai) and published by the Legato; "Giovanna d'Arco" by Verdi (with R. Tebaldi, U. Savarese). On the official website of the Teatro dell'Opera you can read the following: "The Orchestra of the Opera House was born together with 1 Teatro Costanzi, inaugurated in 1880. Witness and protagonist of the premieres of" Cavalleria Rusticana "," L'Amico Fritz !, “Iris”, “Tosca”, saw alternating on his podium Pietro Mascagni, lgor Stravinskij, Riccardo Zandonai. The transformation of Costanzi into the Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma in 1928 gave it a physiognomy of an international character, confirmed by the constant presence on its stage of the greatest directors and opera artists from its foundation to today. Up to the end of the 1950s, Gino Marinuzzi, Tuilio Serafin and Gabriele Santini, among others, famous conductors succeeded each other in the position of permanent conductor, who forged the characteristics of extreme flexibility and softness of sound ". We can observe from this the consideration that the maestro Gabriele Santini continues to have in those who have had the good fortune to listen to him directly and in those who know him perhaps only through recordings. Among other things, already in 1938 E. Schmidl, in his Universal Dictionary of Musicians, dedicated an entry to ours and thus expressed himself: “he conducted many opera seasons in Italy and abroad especially in America, esteemed and applauded everywhere”. Of particular interest are his collaborations with the two most prominent soprano of the last century: Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas. The first recalled recently and with particular esteem and affection his performances under the guidance of our teacher in an interview with Corriere della Sera on the occasion of the celebrations for his 80th birthday. Regarding the second, it is worth remembering that the Greek soprano performed only once in Perugia and did so on August 18, 1949 in the Church of S. Pietro where he performed the "Oratorio San Giovanni Battista" by A. Stradella under the direction of Gabriele Santini. In 1952 our director directed Callas in Bellini's Puritani (in Rome). The year 1953 was that of the famous engraving of "Traviata" (the first recorded by the Greek soprano) and in fact it began in January at the Rome Opera with this work, followed by "Norma" (also in Rome), in the month of September the historic recording of the Traviata was made in Turin and in December, again, Callas performed under the direction of Santini in Verdi's "Trovatore" (also at the Rome Opera). The collaboration with the Greek singer resumed again in 1955 ("Medea" by L. Cherubini, at the Rome Opera) and in 1958 ("Norma" again at the Rome Opera). At the end of this memory I would like to mention a recording curiosity, a record called "Gigli rarities" in which the famous singer from the Marches sings songs from "Romeo et Jullette" by C. Gounod and from "Forza del fate" by G. Verdi, all accompanied by the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, conducted by Gabriele Santini; the registration dates back to 1934. Photo: From the article - from the Photographic Archive of the Municipality of Umbertide and from Wikipedia Sources: Article on "Umbertide Cronache" - n.1 2002 - Page 42 ARSENIO BRUGNOLA The "doctor of the poor" was a native of Montone of which he was also Mayor, then Provincial Councilor in the District of Umbertide and Deputy for the Upper Val Tiberina. His remains rest in the cemetery of Umbertide by Arsenio Rossoni (his nephew) (From "Umbertide Cronache n. 4 1995) On 1 December 1943, on a harsh day of that winter that preceded the occurrence of the last war events that affected the Val Tiberina and which ended with the passage of the front in the summer of '43, he closed his earthly existence in "his Montone ", where he was born seventy-three years earlier, prof. Luigi Arsenio Brugnola, "doctor of the poor", as Rometti defines him in his book on the events of socialism in Upper Umbria. The funeral, which took place in a dignified silence, without indulging in superfluous commemorations, almost reflecting the shy character of exhibitionism and exteriority that characterized prof. Brugnola, were a spontaneous testimony of his popularity and of the gratitude that those who had resorted to his ability as a doctor, his sensitivity as a man and his function as politician and public administrator had. They were also a tribute to a whole life of sacrifice and study, committed every day to overcoming many difficulties, since youth, but still selflessly attentive to the needs of the weakest. Orphaned of both parents while still a teenager, with the two younger brothers Americo and Annibale and his sister Aurora, he found in the affection and help of his maternal uncles, canons of Montone, Don Settimio and Don Giuseppe Cancellotti, a sure family reference which allowed him to continue in higher and university studies, during which he also carried out the function of tutor at the "La Sapienza" College in Perugia for several years. The heartfelt vocation for medical studies undertaken is testified by the brilliant results achieved, so much so that at the end of the fourth academic year at the University of Perugia, after having passed all the exams with the mark of thirty and honors (except for a thirty), the Faculty of Medicine decreed: "in consideration of the singular zeal and profit shown by Brugnola, he was entrusted with the assistance of the Physiology cabinet" and all this before the degree that he had to achieve at the University of Rome on July 7, 1895 with full marks and thesis declared worthy of printing and admitted to the Girolami Prize announced by the same University. In immediate succession, after completing his university studies, the newly graduated Dr. Brugnola began his activity as a doctor, practicing for five years the profession in conduct, in the municipality of Pietralunga, after a few brief experiences of interin in other municipalities of Umbria, and it was during his stay in Pietralunga that he was able to complete important research concerning the urology of pellagra, in some respects still current today, taking advantage of the presence of numerous patients suffering from this disease in the small local hospital, due to the lack of nutrition of the rural population of that area. The research and studies carried out led to his co-optation, in February 1899, by the "Perusina Academia Medica et Chirurgica". Undoubtedly his experience as a doctor, lived above all among the poor, had to contribute not a little to refine his sensitivity towards the weakest which was already an integral part of his character, so much so that already in November 1895 he had been appointed by the Municipal Council of Montone president of the local Congregation of Charity. After his experience as a physician, he was followed by that of assistant at the Medical Clinic of Perugia, for about four years, and then the first aid activity of the Medical Clinic at the University of Sassari, where in 1906 he obtained the teaching in Special Medical Pathology. Returning to the hospital of Perugia in 1908, he continued researches already begun in bacteriology and clinic, publishing numerous works. After that date, particularly important events occurred in the life of prof. Brugnola: in the same 1908 the marriage with Maria Concetta Ramaccioni from Umbria, a woman of recognized charm and intelligence, who was always at his side in the difficult moments that followed; in 1909 the birth of his daughter Margherita; in 1910 the election as Provincial Councilor for the district of Umbertide, which followed his election as Mayor of Montone, a position he held for several years, contributing not a little to the establishment and resolution of many local problems, including that of the road connection with Pietralunga. His adhesion, at that time, to the Italian Socialist Party appears completely understandable and consequent to his field choices made for some time, if one takes into account how much his nature was led to intervene in favor of the less well-off and those who were however in situations of need and suffering. This inner thrust of his had to find full correspondence in the social and humanitarian demands of the PSI. It is no coincidence that his socialist commitment was realized within the reformist area, of which he evidently shared and appreciated the moderation and commitment to the solution of the most urgent social problems. Unfortunately, the satisfactions on a professional and political level were also accompanied by profound bitterness. the more suffering the more incomprehensible to a logical reading of the facts. It was in this period, exactly in August 1911, that he was denied by the Congregation of the Hospital of Perugia the appointment as chief physician, after the examining commission had indicated him as the first eligible doctor. It was that same Congregation that later had to call him to carry out the functions of President of the same, almost as a result of belated recognition of the mistake made. Almost the same situation occurred in the competition for the chair of Medical Pathology at the University of Turin, in which academic qualifications, scientific production and experience gained, far superior to those of the other competitors, were useless to see him proclaimed the winner of that competition. All this, however, did not lead to prof. Brugnola to decrease neither his professional nor political commitment, but rather it was a stimulus to determine him even more to face those strong conservative power groups that could not tolerate the presence in the university environment of a character not connected to baronies of any kind. The subsequent war events, which also involved Italy with the outbreak of the First World War, committed the whole country to face the dramatic situations of the moment, weakening the treatment of internal problems. In that period we find prof. Brugnola. major physician of the RE, work at the Military Hospital of Viterbo and therefore as director of the hospital section set up precariously in the premises of the Seminary of Perugia. Once the conflict was over, the country began the journey towards the coveted normalization which, despite the victorious war, was long and difficult with the violent recurrence of all the contradictions and problems that had remained dormant during the period of the belligerence. The resumption of the political struggle was particularly hard, with the country troubled by strikes and unrest and the governments hardly able to cope with the situation as a whole. The professor. Brugnola also resumed his political commitment and presented himself as a candidate in the elections of November 1919 for the 25th Legislature, he was elected deputy for the Alta Val Tiberina together with other 155 socialist deputies that the proportional system allowed to bring to the Chamber. In that legislature, it should be remembered, no representative of the new fascist movement was elected, although the Parliamentary Fascio Group was already constituted then, made up of some nationalist and right-liberal deputies. The difficulties of the country, which were also fully reflected in Parliament, made that Legislature particularly difficult, so much so that the attempts of the Nitti and Gioliotti Governments led to nothing, while Italy slipped more and more towards authoritarian solutions and that fascist adventure began which modified power relations and rules of conduct, to the point of inevitably subverting the established democratic order. In the subsequent elections for the XXVI legislature, prof. Brugnola did not participate. We do not know what were the basic reasons that led him to retire from the political arena at the national level: probably the sharpening of internal relations within the PSI between reformists and maximalists, perhaps the intuition of an irreversibility of the deterioration in progress of the Italian political situation and perhaps also the desire not to neglect for too long his mission as a doctor which allowed him to translate directly into his daily work those humanitarian and social stimuli that he had tried to pursue even in politics. The advent of the Fascist regime, especially at the beginning of the twenties, led to the marginalization of those, of opposite political opinion, who did not intend to conform to the new course and continued to represent a certain point of reference, especially for the young people of the time, as I the Honorable Puletti recalled some time ago, faced with the spread of a demeaning conformism. For prof. Brugnola was not enough to withdraw from public life and complete dedication to his freelance activity: for his opponents it was necessary not to allow opportunities for comparison and at least not to submit to the critical judgment of those who still could count on a significant personal following. Thus, when the unveiled threats received seemed to degenerate with concrete facts, he was forced to abandon Perugia to take refuge in the Marches, in Cingoli, waiting for more liveable moments. On his return to Perugia, when the Fascist presence had consolidated and more acceptable living conditions had been established, prof. Brugnola was able to resume his activity as a doctor, obviously only as a freelancer. Paradoxically, the years that followed, spent in the daily commitment that his "mission" entailed, in the always crowded clinic at the foot of the "stairs" of S. Ercolano, were for him perhaps more redundant in notoriety and consensus than those spent in public life . Faced with the trappings of the regime, the imperial rhetoric, the exaltation of force, the figure of a man who had been able to retreat without bowing his forehead and who had managed to arouse respect and consideration even in the hierarchies of the time for his integrity morality and professional capacity, involved a generalized consent, although not expressed for obvious reasons, but undoubtedly palpable in any environment he was in. So the years that followed always saw him still "master of himself", absolutely not inclined to compromise, notoriously critical of the ruling regime, even if devoid of rancor and feelings of revenge, almost aware that the events to come would have done anyway. justice of a questionable past. Those years were also for him a period of deepening of historical studies, of which he was passionate, and of careful reflections. The writer remembers perfectly with how carefully he glossed the political essays of the time, such as Oriani's "Ideal Revolt", placing in the margin of each page his point of view on facts and people, with acute observations, not without pungent sarcasm and irony. Sarcasm and irony that often also manifested in external behaviors that are part of the anecdotal that concerns him, as when he peremptorily invited one of his sharecroppers, framed in the PNF to refrain from the Roman greeting when he met him or when he ordered his nephew Mario Ramaccioni who went to Umbertide in Perugia for the obligatory meetings of the GLL, to take off his uniform before entering his house. The years between '30 and '43, with the growing succession of events and adventures on the world stage, passed very quickly for everyone, who more or less involved or overwhelmed by the dramatic events of the Second World War. The anxiety of seeing the unfortunate war event concluded as soon as possible made the wait almost spasmodic, with an alternation of hopes and disappointments, punctuated by the news of Radio London which was also religiously listened to in the Brugnola house, despite the existing obligation to "block" the short wave circuit of radio equipment. Unfortunately, the path towards the end of the war was accompanied by the manifestation and slow worsening of those heart problems that prof. Brugnola at the end of his existence in Montone, where the whole family had withdrawn due to displacement from the cities in the summer of 1943. Now he rests definitively in the cemetery of Umbertide. Today not many can say that they have known Arsenio Brugnola; many years have now passed since his time and everything has profoundly changed in terms of scales of values, the concept of ethics, the goals to be pursued, but certain examples of life, like his, deserve to be remembered. The Municipality of Montone wanted to make a contribution to his memory by recently naming a street after him. Sources: Article published on “Umbertide Cronache n. 4 - 1995 "- Page 58 GIUSEPPE GUARDABASSI Esponente di spicco del socialismo umbertidese a cavallo tra la fine dell’Ottocento e la prima metà del Novecento a cura di Fabio Mariotti Fu il personaggio più autorevole e carismatico del Partito Socialista non solo nella zona di Umbertide ma in tutto il territorio umbro. Era nato il 14 gennaio del 1865 da Ester Toni e da Giovambattista, gestiva un negozio di ferramenta in fondo al corso, in prossimità di piazza Matteotti (allora Piazza Umberto I) ed abitava in Via Cibo. Il suo equilibrio e la sua lungimiranza lo imposero come primo segretario della sezione socialista locale e oggi viene spontaneo chiedersi dove avesse acquisito una preparazione politica tanto profonda e vasta da imporsi alla stima dei suoi fino a diventare membro della Direzione Nazionale del Partito Socialista. I tre amici e compagni con cui aveva fondato la sezione non erano della stessa levatura. Il marchigiano Michele Belardi, impiegato del dazio, era nato a Loreto il 16 novembre del 1847 e nel 1906 tornò a Porto Recanati nella sua zona di origine; Ovidio Vibi, anche lui impiegato del dazio, era nato il 22 aprile del 1876 ed abitava in via Cibo; Torquato Bucci, di professione avvocato, era nato il 28 dicembre del 1859 ed abitava in via Alberti. Gente rispettabile e animata da una grande passione politica, ma la cui opera rimase circoscritta all'ambito cittadino (1) . Guardabassi ebbe il coraggio e la costanza di lavorare per un'idea quando tutto sembrava congiurare contro: gli operai e i contadini che si mostravano sordi ai messaggi di richiamo, la scarsa partecipazione alle iniziative intraprese, gli insuccessi elettorali, i fischi e gli schiamazzi degli stessi contadini organizzati dal barone Franchetti (2) contro i comizi socialisti in occasione delle elezioni politiche che non consentivano mai agli oratori di parlare. Lo spettacolo poco edificante e riprovevole di non lasciar parlare l'avversario politico, che ancora ha qualche strascico dalle nostre parti specie in occasione della chiusura della campagna elettorale, ha origini antiche ed è nato e cresciuto nell'ambiente agrario di destra. Oltre a curare l'aspetto organizzativo della sezione e la diffusione della stampa e degli opuscoli di informazione, il segretario era impegnato in una assidua opera editoriale. Non solo faceva il corrispondente del giornale del partito Avanti! ma curava una rubrica pubblicata sul settimanale locale La Rivendicazione che si stampava a Città di Castello, dove i socialisti avevano acquistato una tipografia. Il settimanale (3) fu in vendita dal settembre 1902 fino al marzo 1921 quando le squadre fasciste distrussero (4) gli impianti tipografici. Fuori della porta del suo negozio c'era un cartello con scritto "Qui si vende la Rivendicazione" con sotto l'elenco degli articoli più importanti. Le elezioni politiche del 6 novembre 1904 videro i socialisti particolarmente attivi in tutta l'alta valle del Tevere per sostenere la candidatura di Francesco Bonavita contro quella del solito barone Leopoldo Franchetti . Fu una campagna elettorale aspra perché i conservatori temevano un ulteriore balzo in avanti dei socialisti e del Blocco Democratico in genere. Pochi giorni prima delle elezioni, mentre il barone attraversava Umbertide a bordo della sua macchina fu sonoramente fischiato da un gruppo di giovani che si trovavano davanti al negozio di Guardabassi. Il barone fermò la vettura, scese e guardò torvo in direzione del gruppo con aria sdegnata e minacciosa. Il giorno dopo vennero due padrini e consegnarono a Guardabassi il cartello di sfida alla spada. Ai rappresentanti del Franchetti, il pacato segretario rispose "che il suo ideale socialista e la sua concezione della lotta politica e sociale non gli permettevano di ricorrere a mezzi ch'egli considerava come avanzi di costumi barbari e sorpassati e che sono la negazione stessa delle lotte civili; e che, d'altra parte, egli non poteva e non intendeva assolutamente essere responsabile di atti commessi da giovani non ancora sufficientemente educati a queste lotte civili (5) ." Quella campagna elettorale si chiuse così e il risultato delle elezioni, come era prevedibile, non solo confermò la rielezione del barone Franchetti, ma determinò il calo delle sinistre estreme e il trionfo di Giovanni Giolitti. Il timore di un successo delle "estreme" mandò alle urne in Italia 1.903.687 elettori, il 65% degli aventi diritto al voto (2.928.749), percentuale mai raggiunta prima, e la grande presenza dei cattolici in appoggio ai liberali pesò fortemente sull'esito delle elezioni. Ormai si profilava un corso politico nuovo e si faceva strada l’ltalietta giolittiana. Anche all'interno del partito socialista c'era aria di tempesta. Polemiche acrimoniose laceravano il gruppo dirigente e l'estremismo massimalista di Enrico Ferri e Arturo Labriola si opponeva all'ala riformista di Turati, Bissolati e Bonomi. Per evitare un'eventuale scissione, Oddino Morgari, nel suo settimanale Sempre Avanti, tentava la via della conciliazione con una tesi centrista detta "integralismo". Al Congresso di Roma del 1906 la linea di Morgari ebbe una buona maggioranza e Giuseppe Guardabassi, che ne era un esponente autorevole e ascoltato in Umbria, fu eletto membro della Direzione Nazionale del Partito. Nelle elezioni amministrative del 1905 che avvenivano nell'atmosfera riformatrice del Giolitti e tra laceranti conflitti interni al partito a livello di vertice, i risultati ad Umbertide furono molto negativi per i socialisti che si erano presentati con una loro lista. Ottennero solo 150 voti, ma Guardabassi fu eletto con 180 preferenze grazie al prestigio personale di cui godeva (6) . Quell'anno fu negativo in tutti i sensi. In molte regioni d'Italia furono organizzate manifestazioni contro "il caro vita" che ebbero uno svolgimento disordinato e violento soprattutto nelle zone agricole. Ad Umbertide un mercoledì, giorno di mercato, un gran numero di operai si avventarono con selvaggio furore sulle contadine che portavano uova, pollame, ortaggi e legumi, frutto del loro lavoro, a vendere per ricavare qualche spicciolo. Le indifese donne furono aggredite dagli operai rabbiosi e i loro prodotti scaraventati nella Reggia. Gurdabassi intervenne immediatamente ma ormai era troppo tardi. La vicenda, com'era logico attendersi, fu strumentalizzata dagli agrari. La sezione socialista organizzò per la domenica successiva due incontri, uno a Montecastelli e l'altro a Molino Vitelli. Fu un vero disastro: a Montecastelli non si presentò alcun contadino, mentre a Molino Vitelli erano più di trecento, non per ascoltare il comizio di Guardabassi, ma per investirlo di bordate di fischi e di minacce paurose (7) . Una bella soddisfazione Guardabassi l'ebbe nelle elezioni politiche del 1908. Questa volta i candidati erano tre: il solito barone Leopoldo Franchetti per i liberali conservatori, il marchese Ugo Patrizi per la democrazia radicale e Francesco Bonavita per i socialisti. Bonavita riportò 660 voti, Patrizi 800 e Franchetti 1.000. Non solo i socialisti erano in netta avanzata, ma diventavano determinanti nel ballottaggio che si rendeva necessario in quanto nessuno dei tre aveva raggiunto la maggioranza assoluta. I socialisti, riuniti a Città di Castello sotto la presidenza di Guardabassi, votarono all'unanimità di orientare i loro voti su Patrizi come il minore dei mali. Fu la fine politica del barone Franchetti, che nel 1917 lascerà anche questo mondo con un testamento sorprendente: i suoi numerosi poderi sarebbero passati in proprietà ai contadini che li coltivavano. I giornali di tutta Italia parlarono di filantropia esagerata e di testamento "socialista". I socialisti locali, più disincantati per le lunghe lotte condotte contro il nobile barone, videro nel gesto l'ultimo dispetto politico: quei contadini, in passato accesi leghisti, divenuti proprietari passarono dall'altra parte. Il barone dava filo da torcere anche da morto. Non c'è da meravigliarsi: l'istinto naturale, se non è sorretto da una robusta convinzione politica e da una grande passione sociale, non mira all'uguaglianza ma alla supremazia; se non si riesce ad essere "padroni", si aspira almeno ad essere "padroncini". Poco dopo, nel 1910, ci furono le elezioni amministrative. Il lavoro dei socialisti incominciava a dare i suoi frutti perché il Blocco Democratico riuscì a conquistare molti comuni. Ad Umbertide Guardabassi divenne un valente collaboratore del sindaco Francesco Andreani, impegnato in una serie di opere pubbliche che ancora resistono al tempo. Guardabassi era sulla breccia dell'impegno politico del "né aderire, né sabotare" quando la prima guerra mondiale strappò al suo affetto gli unici due figli, Spartaco e Francesco. Il primo morì in una nave da guerra, il secondo sei anni dopo in seguito alle ferite che lo avevano menomato nelle operazioni militari al fronte. Animatore di tutte le manifestazioni politiche di Umbertide e dell'alta Umbria era sempre in prima fila nel condurre le lotte sociali con equilibrio e con il totale rifiuto della violenza. Solo nel grande sciopero del 1920 per il rinnovo del Patto colonico successe un fatto increscioso nella zona di Montone. La guerra era finita da un pezzo e le promesse di miglioramento delle condizioni di vita dei coloni, fatte in quel periodo, erano rimaste parole al vento. In tutta l'Umbria si registrarono scioperi e vibrate proteste che si protrassero per oltre un mese in piena estate. Il 10 agosto i contadini schierarono nei campi tutto il bestiame "grosso" delle stalle e solo in presenza di questo espediente, durante la notte, oltre il 50% dei proprietari si decise a firmare l'accordo. Fu a questo punto che un gruppo di giovani mezzadri si recò a Montone, presso la casa di Riccardo Reali, che non intendeva firmare. Costui, spaventato, mise mano ad una rivoltella che siguardò bene dall'usare mentre un gruppo discioperanti lo aggredì a bastonate (8) . L'episodio, per fortuna, finì qui senza conseguenze più gravi, ma ebbe un lungo strascico giudiziario che vide coinvolti 35 mezzadri, Giuseppe Guardabassi in qualità di Segretario della sezione socialista e Clotide Rometti segretario della Camera del Lavoro di Umbertide, che vennero ammanettati e condotti in carcere a Perugia pur non avendo partecipato all'aggressione. Il capo di imputazione, per i maggiori responsabili, era il seguente "... per avere nell'agosto 1920 in Montone in correità tra loro, ristretto la libertà di lavoro dell'industria agricola più volte con atti esecutivi della medesima risoluzione criminosa e mediante minacce e violenze a mano armata di bastoni, contro i proprietari terrieri: Reali Riccardo, Tirimagni Pericle, Ciucci Giulio, Nunzi Sante e Vannucchi, per costringerli a firmare un patto colonico con patti che essi pretendevano dover conseguire... " (9) . Guardabassi fu assolto e Rometti condannato a sei mesi di carcere. Alcuni mezzadri subirono una condanna da sei a otto mesi mentre la maggioranza venne assolta per non aver commesso il fatto. Dopo l’avvento del fascismo Guardabassi fu perseguitato in tutti i modi, soffrendo insulti e violenze. Gli dettero fuoco persino al negozio. Morì ad Umbertide il 18 ottobre 1944. Gli sopravvisse l’amata moglie Alba che era sempre stata il suo sostegno nelle innumerevoli peripezie sostenute. Nel dopoguerra a lui fu dedicata la locale sezione del P.S.I. mentre l’amministrazione comunale gli intitolò la piazzetta dopo il passaggio a livello di via Spoletini. Note: 1. I dati anagrafici e l'attività professionale sono attinti dall'archivio anagrafico del Comune di Umbertide. 2. Clotide Rometti, “Sessant’anni di Socialismo nell’Alta Umbria e in Italia” – Ed. Il Solco, Città di Castello 1954 - pag. 30. 3. Tra i redattori, oltre a Giuseppe Guardabassi, vanno ricordati: l'avvocato Luigi Massa, il dottor Luigi Bosi di Sansepolcro, il dottor Luca Sediari, l'avvocato Giulio Pierangeli, il tipografo Luigi Gabbiotti, Vito Vincenti, Napoleone Bevignani, Aspromonte Bucchi, Giuseppe Beccari, Emilio Pierangeli, Bistino Venturelli. Cfr. Clotide Rometti, op. cit., pag. 28. 4. Clotide Rometti, op. cit., pag. 27. 5. Clotide Rometti, op. cit., pagg. 31 e 32. 6. Clotide Rometti, op. cit., pag. 38. 7. Clotide Rometti, op. cit., pag. 40. 8. Clotide Rometti, op. cit., pag. 6%. 9. Francesco Pierucci, 1921-1922 Violenze e crimini fascisti in Umbria, Tipografia Caldari, Umbertide, 1977. Fonti: - “Umbertide nel secolo XX 1900 – 1946” di Roberto Sciurpa – Comune di Umbertide, 2006 - “UMBERTIDE – L’uomo nella toponomastica” di Bruno Porrozzi – Ass. Pro-loco Umbertide, 1992 Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Bruto Boldrini Dal Calendario storico di Umbertide 1998 l’appassionata biografia che Mario Tosti ha dedicato a Bruto Boldrini, amministratore locale ed esponente di spicco del Partito Socialista di Umbertide degli anni ‘50 e ‘60, impegnato anche molto attivamente nel settore sociale e assistenziale. Bruto è uno dei dodici figli nati vivi da babbo Fabrizio, ferroviere dell' “Appennino” e mamma Ezilde de Grattasassi, venditrice di stoffa. Finite le elementari apprende il mestiere nell'officina meccanica di Silvio Nanni e poi nelle botteghe artigiane di Migliorati e Rondoni. Combatte al fronte, durante la prima guerra mondiale, nella Pasubio, reparto artiglieria di campagna. Rientrato alla base, trova un'occupazione stabile, nel '21, all'officina della Ferrovia Centrale Umbra. Fisico asciutto, portamento eretto, avaro di parole, ricco di azione, nel lavoro, nel volontariato, nella politica: l'impegno sociale rappresenta il costante motore della sua vita, facendogli assumere un ruolo di riferimento morale per la collettività. Opera nella società di pubblica assistenza “Croce Bianca” (con Aldo Burelli presidente e Porrini segretario) che fornisce servizi di trasporto per gli infermi, con barelle su ruote spinte a mano; e per i morti (la famigerata “Carulìna”). Nel tempo libero accudisce alla manutenzione del cimitero: vernicia le croci ed i cancelli, risistema le tombe, ripassa con il nero i nomi sulle lapidi. Socialista convinto, ne pratica gli ideali con rigore e passione; allaccia rapporti personali con i leaders del partito che trovano ospitalità nella sua casa di via Cibo, senza disdegnare le tagliatelle preparate dalla moglie Anita e servite nella sala da pranzo della Rita Grilli, in mancanza della propria. Eletto consigliere comunale per la lista del Psi nelle amministrative del '46, è riconfermato per quattro legislature. E' assessore nella mitica prima giunta del dopoguerra, sindaco Astorre Bellarosa, e ricopre la carica di vice sindaco nella giunta di Serafino Faloci. Viene immortalato a fianco del Patriarca di Venezia Angelo Roncalli, futuro papa Giovanni XXIII, in visita a Preggio. Poco dopo la morte, nel 1966, il sindaco di Umbertide Umberto Cavalaglio commemora la figura del defunto consigliere, “mettendone in risalto le preclare qualità di amministratore integro, puro e di uomo; ricorda le varie cariche tenute con rara passione e con impareggiabile solerzia e competenza, nonché la dedizione completa all'Amministrazione, al movimento democratico, al suo Partito e alla popolazione. Rimpiange la perdita di un così valoroso amministratore, verso il quale ha sempre nutrito una profonda stima ed un affetto davvero fraterno”. Mario Tosti Bruto Boldrini

Arrivals Who arrived ... or was practically born in Umbertide, here are some of our stories: Dritan Kamel e Kalida Adil Tiziana Dritan Kamel e Kalida Adil Dritan (edited by Francesco Deplanu) Dritan arrived in Italy at the age of 19, in March 1991; on that same date Albanian immigration to Italy resumed. Today in our Umbertide more than 500 citizens are of the first generation Albanian or already born Italian, a population attributable to this emigration wave. It was not the first in the centuries: “Piana degli Albanesi” in Sicily, several towns of the Pollino in Calabria, Campomarino in Molise are some of the areas that were populated by Albanians since the Middle Ages; migratory flows also connected with the crisis and then the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, in addition to the death of Scanderbeg which marked the apex of Albanian independence from the Ottoman Empire (here the biography of the Albanian identity hero in Italian, downloadable in .pdf , written by Fan S. Noli). These arbëreshe communities remind us of the proximity of the Italian and Albanian coasts and the history that concerned them. "Skanderbeg and his warriors" in National Museum " Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu " By Avi1111 dr. avishai teicher - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34192184 In the last months of 1989, however, the Berlin Wall collapsed. For the "popular democracies" of Eastern Europe, which had become dictatorial regimes, a period of instability began which quickly led to the implosion of these political systems. In Tirana in February 1991 there was the demolition of the statue of the dictator Enver Hoxha and there were numerous riots in the country. Immediately afterwards, emigration to Italy began. Dritan arrived on the coasts of the P uglia in Brindisi in early March : two large Albanian merchant ships, the “Tirana” and the “Liriya”, loaded with 6,500 people, arrived in the port on 6 March, followed by others. The arrival in Brindisi lasted a few days, the immigrants were quickly brought back to Albania. But the unpreparedness for the arrival of a flow of thousands of people left the authorities and the population of Brindisi alone to manage the landing. Subsequently, the disembarked people were locked up in the stadium and chaotically supplied with bread and water under the control of the army. Dritan says: " I was among the last who did not want to return (accept the transfer to Albania proposed by the authorities ed), they called us the" non-surrendered ", we even went without eating, in the end they took us to Modena for a few days ". Meanwhile in Albania the social and political situation of what remained of the Hoxa regime was felt to be unbearable. For some time not only had material life been difficult but respect for personal freedom had been severely limited in the country: in the documentary "Anija" by Roland Sejko the starting situation is described and it is recalled that already in 1978 three Albanian boys had been sentenced to death for having thought of emigrating to Italy. The Italian government, meanwhile, chose the forced repatriation of most of the people. Dritan recalls that on the same day (about a week after arrival ed) of a riot in Tirana against the Italian Embassy he was brought back: " the same day a bus arrives, they tell us that we have to go to Bologna to get the documents instead they board a plane for Albania. Once we got off with military vehicles they took us to prison, but two cousins and I understand the intention and as soon as the opportunity arises we jump out of the vehicle and take advantage of not being imprisoned ". He returned in August with the Vlora, a ship for the transport of sugar that was diverted to Italy, was filled with people beyond belief, it is thought 20,000. This time Dritan stayed for a few weeks. The arrival of this cargo and the conditions of the emigrants are mentioned in another Italian documentary “La dolce Nave”. In the following years Dritan returned again to Italy and settled in Umbertide. For 25 years he has been working steadily in the most innovative development sectors in central Italy, linked to engineering which are a flagship of the Umbertidese production system. As soon as he was able to work he rented an apartment to marry his beloved girl who joined him; then he continued to build his family between new born and the arrival of his parents from Albania. Now he has long since acquired Italian citizenship and has forged strong bonds of friendship and esteem, even if he always thinks about the place where he was born. A similar fate for many young Albanians who have since settled in Umbertide and have given life to what can be defined as an "ethnic colony" in a land of emigration, where the first who integrated have acted as economic and moral support for the new you arrive through family channels. Like Dritan, the Albanian community has integrated with the desire to establish itself above all in work: in the construction sector, for example, there are already about 20 companies and Registered "self-employed workers" and present in Umbertide. The desire to integrate with stability is also evidenced by the gender ratio of the resident emigrant population: the Albanian is the only ethnic group with an equal ratio between "males" and "females", 280 to 281 in the last census. Willingness to settle in Umbertide in a stable manner confirmed by the comparison with the census of December 2005 which counted 394 Albanian residents: then the "males" were 210, while the "females" were only 184. Shijak photo in 1964: Dritan came from Shijak, 11 km from Durres (Dures) and 31 km from Tirana. In the English Wikipedia entry you can read “ reported population of around 12,853 people as of 2007. In reality the population is smaller as many people who claim residency in Shijak actually reside permanently elsewhere. ". In short, emigration continued in its area of origin and mainly concerned young people. This is also confirmed by the fact that the natural demographic growth of the Shijak population decreased from 2003 to 2007 by almost 60%. Many Albanian children who arrived in the 1990s are now adults and live in Umbertide with their children ... and now someone with their first grandchildren. Children and grandchildren who are and will be bearers of a double identity: Umbertidesi and linked to the land of origin of their fathers. We thank Dritan for telling us his story and allowing us to enrich us. Sources: - Oral sources - https://www.empresite.it/Attivita/MC-COSTRUZIONI/citta/UMBERTIDE/ - https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-information.specialty-contractors.it.perugia.umbertide.html?page=1 -Photo by Shijak in 1964: By Agim Faja - Self-photographed, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php curid = 10665893 - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skanderbeg_and_his_warriors_in_skanderbeg_museum,_Kruje.JPG#/media/File:Skanderbeg_and_his_warriors_in_skanderbeg_museum,_Kruje.JPG -https: //cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shijak - http://www.vatrarberesh.it/bibostazione/ebooks/scanderbegnoli.pdf Kamel and Kalida (edited by Francesco Deplanu) Among those who have chosen Umbertide to live there is Kamel who formed here his family. Very young Kamel, born in Algiers, sought to know the ways of life in other countries. He came to us for the first time in 1991, he settled there in 1995 but this year, about a month ago, he felt forced to leave Umbertide, now an Italian citizen, to seek a better life in Manchester in England. Fig. 1: Algiers from Wikipedia. The user who originally uploaded the file was Dolphin Jedi from English Wikipedia Dolphin Jedi - English Wikipedia (Original text: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.), CC BY-SA 3.0, https: // commons. wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31689311 His wife Kalida, says that " Kamel was a young 20-year-old boy, smart, full of dreams with a great desire to travel and discover the other side of the horizon, being convinced that there would be a better future awaiting him, despite that in Algeria he was well off, there was neither war nor economic crisis, but he was looking for something different, so he launched a small tour visiting many countries, Switzerland, Spain, Libya, Austria, Hungary, Morocco, and then Italy. the first time he came to Italy was in 1991 but only with a tourist visa, and something snapped that on his return to Algeria made him think of returning there to live there, he returned another time to Italy, to Umbertide, but to looking for work, it was not so easy to find it when you do not speak the language and when there is a great distrust from people towards everything that is different. Kamel, however, did not give up and got busy and did all the possible trade, bricklayer, gardener, worked in the tobacco fields and over time in the mechanical industry. ". For 20 years Kamel worked in various medium-sized companies in the mechanical field of Umbria but never managed to get a permanent contract. Kalida continues: “ For Kamel it was not always fun, life got very hard with that young boy, it was more and more difficult to find houses for rent because people did not trust him, but he dreamed of stability. After so much suffering he always managed to find a good soul who granted him the benefit of the doubt, so in 1995 he managed to obtain his first residence permit thanks to a stable employment contract and a house. ". Like many emigrants, after a few years Kamel felt the need to settle down, get married and start a family. He will marry Kalida, a cultured young man who already knows the local Algerian variant in addition to Arabic, the Berber which is the language of his parents, English and French. Fig. 2: Algiers. The neighborhood where Kalida was born. Fig. 3-4: Traditional Algerian Cous Cous and Mint Tea prepared by Kalida. Kalida says: “ in 2004 he and I get married, I am a young graduate in finance full of life plans. My departure for Italy provoked in me a feeling of great enthusiasm and great sadness, I was leaving my land for another stranger, I was leaving my loved ones ignoring what was waiting for me. I am a woman who traveled a lot as a child, France, Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, UK, in short, for me living in Italy would have been a long vacation, but it wasn't at all. My arrival in Umbertide was a big change in my life, I, a girl born in Algiers, capital of Algeria, was used to the big city I find myself in a small town, the rhythms of life were completely different, but this was not the biggest problem. So I faced the obstacle of the language, but I challenged myself to study it and I did it, then taking the middle school certificate with top marks. The thing that made me suffer the most, however, was the gaze of the people, it was something that killed me more and more, I was not seen as a woman but as a "Moroccan" with a veil! I must say that I have faced many very unpleasant situations, luckily I was strong in character and I have always tried to moving forward, studying, playing sports, after the birth of my 3 children I became more and more involved in their school career, trying to participate in all school activities; without ever losing sight of my dream of working but I soon realized that with my veil I will never be given the chance to work, I was like "an alien". it was so scary, finally I surrendered to the harsh reality, I was always there to justify myself for that that I was, I wanted to shout loud and loud to the whole world that the veil was covering my hair and not my brain! For 15 years I haven't been able to get a I work in Umbertide, and it was not easy for us to resist with a salary paying everything (rent, bills, expenses ...) but we have always made sure with great sacrifices, the relationship I had with Umbertide has always been love and hate, of course I have not only had bad things in my life in this city, on the contrary, it has given me the opportunity to meet some fantastic people who have accompanied me along my life path. " " Thanks to these people I was able to face the nostalgia of my country and my family, I love Italy, my children were born there and they have an unconditional love for Umbertide, with them I have always spoken the 3 languages, Arabic, French and Italian but mostly ľItalian and they almost always speak Italian between them but unfortunately for economic and social reasons we had to leave this land, looking for economic and mental well-being elsewhere. It was not an easy choice at all but in life you have to risk and therefore, for a second time in our life, we were forced to leave land and loved ones in search of a country that offers us a chance to work both, without any prejudice, my dream was to be judged for what I was and for my abilities and not for what I was wearing. " Fig. 5: The "Skyscraper" seen from the Piazzetta . I would never have left ľItaly if I had been given ľopportunity to work. " When asked for which country she misses most now that she is in England Kalida replies "Italy", even if from Algeria she stresses "I miss my mother" and then continues to tell us that "there are many things I miss about Umbertide, first of all my friends and friends, the small pleasant moments we shared together such as having breakfast, going shopping, sitting in the Piazzetta to see the children playing together while eating a good ice cream. "The Piazzetta, or rather the square of the" skyscraper "which replaced the" gardens "of previous generations as a summer meeting point, was the main place where children and young people of different cultures met especially in the summer. those relationships that have allowed us to get to know each other more in depth, starting with eating the tastiest dishes together and thus consolidating friendships. Kalida concludes “ from Umbertide I miss the sun and good food, take a stroll to the market on Wednesdays, take a long walk in the evening after dinner, here in Manchester, on the other hand, I don't feel safe in the evening. ". Fig. 6-7-8: Manchester in England Sources: - Texts written directly in Italian by Kalida S. - Photo by Kalida S. and Francesco Deplanu Adil Adil's family moved to Umbertide a few months after he was born from a mining town in central Morocco: Khouribga. Adil lives and it's always lived in Umbertide. Image of Adil's parents' hometown clock. Khouribga's clock: Energievision [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. From Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ساعة_خريبكة_ l% 27horloge_de_khouribga_1.jpg (edited by Adil BA) “After 2 years of visits the doctor told my mom that she couldn't help my brother in any way. His problems were irreversible, but with specific surgery and medications he could live a few more years. << You have to move to Europe, lady >> And so it was that my family moved to Italy at the dawn of 1982. A casual and dramatic event changed the course of events, forever. My brother lived until March 3, 2000 and found fantastic doctors, nurses who still greet me today and tell about when they held me in their arms, people who cared about his and our health. I have lived in Umbertide since I was aware of myself, when my parents moved I was 3 months old, so I did not experience the change, the emigration. Just thinking about leaving my home, whatever the reason, makes me very sad. I lived 2 cultures, one at home and one outside, at school, at the camp, at Garibaldi with friends. I have always had the possibility to choose my thought and I have always formed it with more interpretations. I knew what it was like here, I saw what it was like there, and it was a fortune that I can never thank enough for. At school I was the only one, not in the classroom, but in the whole school to come from another country. They were certainly different times, but when you are a child there are no differences. However, I learned early enough that I was "other than", only that in some areas I was a little more different ... it always depended on the interlocutor. This was an important lesson, as not everyone generalized with me I didn't generalize and I still don't do it with others. Growing up and coming out of the glass bubble of the school I had a few more problems, I had to deal with some aspects of life that made me suffer but undoubtedly also grow. I found myself being neither meat nor fish. Too black for someone, too white for someone else. I went through a period in which you ultimately have to choose whether to play the victim and mourn yourself or to treasure what happened to you and still continue to have faith in humanity. Trust that then pays off because a person's qualities go beyond prejudices. I had job opportunities, I met people who initially looked at me with doubt and with whom I built thirty-year friendships. Transversal friendships, regardless of political, religious, football, or social background. I have had and have disagreements, especially when the topic of discussion is religion, but I have also learned not to always put it on a personal level. I learned to measure myself with others serenely not to “feel myself in the crosshairs.” There will always be those who think differently regardless, it is the founding aspect of a multiracial society. Basically, I had to move to find my home. ". Sources: - Written texts by Adil BA - Photo by Energievision [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]. From Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ساعة_خريبكة_ l% 27horloge_de_khouribga_1.jpg Tiziana (edited by Francesco Deplanu) Tiziana arrived from Colombia, a journey back across the ocean to get to Italy. Tiziana has blue eyes that come from afar. Barbara began a long journey from Maratea to Colombia, after three generations Tiziana landed, on a reverse journey, in the hills above Pierantonio. Emigration moves away from the original nucleus, breaks roles and power relations, allowed and allows women to assert themselves beyond socially prepared screens and “destinies”. On trips across the border, luck, skills and, often, choices of love mix places and possibilities. Barbara Iannini left Italy and left to reach Colombia. He chose who to love and his career destiny. He had three children in a new "foreign" land. One of these, Elisa, married Pierluigi a young man who emigrated to Colombia from Foligno. Tiziana, their daughter, retraced her grandmother's journey backwards, from Bogota to Maratea, where she fell in love and then married a local boy. Today his is a large family with 4 children who are in the hills of our area. His children studied and studied in Pierantonio and Umbertide. Tiziana at her wedding in Italy Tiziana states that " Umbrian people are kind, cordial, sincere and Umbria, both in my husband and in me, has always exercised a certain fascination for the green of its woods, for the history of centuries that it has left traces in every city and its castles that dominate the narrow valleys from the heights . ". Listening to Tiziana's family story, one enters a female narrative perspective, where choices of life and affections characterize the “minor” story of emigration. Because Barbara, Elisa and Tiziana have come to terms not only with the need for economic affirmation or cultural training, but they have done so with their multiple role as mothers, workers, sisters. They have worked and lived by taking care of the growth of children with double identity, both "going" and "returning". In 1979 a work by a third generation Italian-American writer, “Umbertine” by Helen Barolini, appeared in North American literature. The need for a female narrative revealed for the first time the “minor” aspect of the female perspective in living in a new world and dealing with one's own identity. Tiziana's stories have the same tenor, but they end in a more complex way: the identity from a female perspective formed in the country of arrival is broken and recomposed again in the "old" country. Barbara, known as Barbarina, in the 30s of the last century, followed the brothers overseas and worked in their porcelain shop, then married Carlo Rovida and with him she began a career as an entrepreneur. Today his work is more than visible, his company founded in 1943, San Marcos , a confectionery industry with restaurant and bakery, is an excellence in Colombia. His role, all the more difficult to achieve given his "gender", is mentioned in a dedicated page on the same site of the company in the page dedicated to " Women's Day " ... with its own title in Italian, written by Valentina sister of Tiziana. Image by Barbara and text from: https://www.sanmarcos1943.com/barbara-iannini/ Here you can read: “ El día de la mujer es muy important para la panadería San Marcos: nuestra fundadora Barbara Iannini was a powerful y valiente mujer. Su labor como mujer de negocios fue todo un ejemplo para la comunidad italiano de Bogotá que siempre vio en her a figure admirable, but sobretodo, su presencia fue una gran inspiración para muchas de las empleadas más antiguas del establecimiento. If it happened to the 28 years of edad (tarde para la época) and gracias a on impulse logro that at the moment the panadería San Marcos was the principal productora de pan in the city of Bogotá. He was looking for a muchas de las empleadas de la empresa que la recuerdan con cariño por haberlas aconsejado de manera correcta en muchos problemas domésticos: siempre las alentó en las dificultades y las incentivó a ser mujeres independientes en todo sentido. ". Tiziana grew up in the large family connected to the community of second generation "Italians" or to those who subsequently reached Colombia from our country. The grandfather founded, among others, the " Leonardo da Vinci " school in Bogotà, a private school where, in addition to Spanish, the language of one's own tradition was studied; norm that concerned in Colombia a multitude of languages brought by the emigratory and indigenous mix. However, Tiziana completed her university studies, already engaged to Antonio, in Milan in Mechanical Engineering with a biomedical address. But adjusting to life in the city proved difficult. Not so much for the difference between an Italian language studied in Colombia compared to the real one with which she was confronted, but for the limitation in human relationships: the detachment from others, a frenetic life based on the activities to be carried out turned out to be opposed to the way of life for Tiziana Colombian; a life full of joy, of value to friendship and open to relationships with others. These aspects linked to human relationships now Tiziana feels she has rediscovered them starting with the meetings she had with small children and other mothers in the square of Pierantonio. What certainly differentiates the life structure in Colombia from the Italian one is the minor social division; a division that seems insurmountable in Colombia. The division between rich and poor, in a country of extreme poverty, is clear, even among young people, to which is added a difference between those who descend from an American or Spanish "stock" and other ethnic groups. Some time ago Tiziana recalled how Bogota had "six million inhabitants, of which four are poor and of these one million are destitute". Among the poor who have an even worse situation is the female gender, underpaid and exploited. Tiziana remembers how the values of her family have always been opposed to this triple division, economic, ethnic and gender: " Since I was a child I felt close to those who were marginalized by my classmates due to their economic condition or the color of their skin " . These beliefs depended on the upbringing and example of her family, especially her grandmother Barbara and her mother Elisa: " Just tell you one of the many wonderful things that my mother and grandmother did to make you happy, at least for one day, of orphaned and abandoned girls: on the occasion of my sister's first communion she organized the party at the orphanage run by Italian nuns, who were customers of the shop. He also called one of the best entertainers in the square and he worked all afternoon and did not want to be paid, he offered his work for free because he understood the purpose for which the party was dedicated. I still have before my eyes the enchanted and joyful gazes of those little girls who had never witnessed games like this, had never known the warmth of a family and never caressed their mother's face ". In the center, at the wedding of her niece, Barbarina Iannini, surrounded by her family. Today Umbertide is home to about 80 people from South America. Those who leave their country bring with them their habits, sounds and music, pride in their culture or religion and, as in the case of Tiziana's grandmother, culinary traditions. From any country you leave and in any country you arrive. Identity is not lost but readapts and changes, it becomes double. Pierluigi, Tiziana's father strengthened in his family both the "nostalgia" of Italy and the use of the language also carried out for his love for Italian music and opera. All this contributed to the choice of Tiziana who left Colombia, a big city and came to live in a small rural nucleus of our hills. Sources: - Oral source - Photo: Tiziana's family archive. - https://www.sanmarcos1943.com - https://www.sanmarcos1943.com/barbara-iannini/ Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Fernand Braudel "History is nothing more than a constant questioning of past times in the name of the problems, curiosities and even anxieties and anxieties of the present time that surround us and besiege us" Tiziana

Il massacro di Penetola 28 GIUGNO 1944 LE VITTIME / THE VICTIMS Avorio Antonio, anni 11; Avorio Carlo, anni 8; Avorio Renato, anni 14; Forni Canzio, anni 58; Forni Ezio, anni 21; Forni Edoardo, anni 16; Luchetti Guido, anni 18; Nencioni Conforto, anni 36; Nencioni Eufemia, anni 44; Nencioni Ferruccio, anni 36; Nencioni Renzini Erminia, anni 68. Il massacro di Penetola - voce di Paola Avorio 00:00 / 02:02 The massacre of Penetola - voice by Paola Avorio 00:00 / 02:24 28 GIUGNO 1944 Nella notte tra il 27 e il 28 giugno 1944, nel casolare denominato Penetola di Niccone, i cui ruderi potete scorgere davanti a voi, dodici persone sono state barbaramente uccise dai soldati appartenenti al 305° battaglione genieri dell’esercito tedesco, di stanza poco lontano da qui, in località La Mita, nota anche come La Dogana. Il casolare di Penetola era abitato dalle famiglie Avorio e Luchetti che nel giugno del 1944 ospitarono le famiglie Forni e Nencioni, sfollate dalle proprie case dell’abitato di Niccone, interamente occupato dalle truppe tedesche. Il comando tedesco era invece stanziato a Montalto, il castello che si trova in alto sulla collina di fronte a voi. Da li, il 26 giugno gli ufficiali tedeschi scesero a La Mita a dare ai propri soldati indicazioni su come raggiungere Penetola e il 28 giugno, dopo mezzanotte, 18 militari tedeschi armati bussarono alla porta del casolare e svegliarono tutti. Gli sfollati che dormivano nell’annesso, vennero derubati dei propri averi e.condotti dentro la casa con gli altri. Tutti vennero rinchiusi nella stanza rivolta verso il bosco. Gli animali furono fatti uscire dalle stalle. I soldati presero il fieno del pagliaio e il legname trovato sul posto, li accatastarono alle pareti della stanza dove erano state rinchiuse le 24 persone e alle mura della casa e, utilizzando della benzina, appiccarono un fuoco devastante. Solo dodici delle ventiquattro persone rinchiuse nel casolare sono sopravvissute: 11 superstiti appartengono alle famiglie dei mezzadri Avorio e Luchetti, nessun superstite tra le due famiglie degli sfollati Nencioni e Forni tranne la piccola Giovanna di 6 anni. 28 June 1944 On the night between 27 and 28 June 1944, in the farmhouse called Penetola di Niccone, whose ruins you can see before you, twelve people were killed by soldiers belonging to the 305th engineer battalion of the German army, stationed not far away from here, in La Mita, also known as La Dogana. The Penetola farmhouse was inhabited by the Avorio and Luchetti families who in June 1944 hosted the Forni and Nencioni families, displaced from their homes in the town of Niccone, entirely occupied by German troops. The German command was instead stationed in Montalto, the castle located high up on the hill in front of you. From there, on 26th June the German officers went down to La Mita to give their soldiers directions on how to reach Penetola and on 28th June, after midnight, 18 armed German soldiers knocked on the door of the farmhouse and woke everyone up. They robbed the evacuees who slept in the annex of their belongings and took them into the house with the others. Everyone was locked in the room facing the woods. The cattle was let out of the stables. The soldiers took the hay from the haystack and the wood found on the spot, piled them on the walls of the room where the 24 people had been locked up and on the walls of the house and, using petrol, set a devastating fire. Only twelve of the twenty-four people locked up in the farmhouse survived: 11 survivors belong to the families of the sharecroppers Avorio and Luchetti, no survivors from the two families of the Nencioni and Forni except little 6-year-old Giovanna. Testo tratto da: Paola Avorio, "Tre noci ," Petruzzi Editore, 2011 Immagine di sfondo: disegno di Antonio Renzini "Penetola" Un progetto a cura di Mario Tosti, Unitre di Umbertide, il Centro Culturale San Francesco, Umbertidestoria, con il Patrocinio del Comune di Umbertide; con la collaborazione di Pietro Taverniti, Massimo Pascolini, Sergio Bargelli, Corrado Baldoni, Francesco Deplanu, Sergio Magrini Alunno, Antonio Renzini, Luca Silvioni, Romano Vibi. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com EH Carr "Change is certain. Progress is not "

The population over time Le linee di indagine I "numeri" del Piccolpasso Il Giorgi ed il popolamento sparso I "dati" della Diocesi nel 1808 I censimenti del Regno d'Italia Lo spostamento verso la città L'esubero dei lavoratori e la "morte" della mezzadria L'immigrazione L'immigrazione neocomunitaria The radical change in the resident population followed a growing trend motivated by the need to search for a better place to live, a possibility linked to job opportunities. Seasonal jobs and the development of engineering have laid the foundation for being an attractive place. Local emigration is the result of displacement flows from North Africa and South America but also from European "history". The fall of the Berlin wall triggered Albanian emigration to Italy, and today the second "foreign resident population" in Umbertide has Albania as its starting country. The enlargement of the EU in 2006-2007 has given way to an increase in "neucomunitari" residents from Romania, the third place of origin of foreign residents in Umbertide. The first sudden "detachment" of the resident population immigrated to Umbertide, already full-bodied because in a ratio of about 1/16 compared to the total resident, it certainly happened between 2002 and 2006. According to the survey " Umbertide Economy and society: the municipality and the territory " of the Umbra Research Agency, it went from 905 foreigners residing in the municipality to 1666. Based on ISTAT data referring to 31 December 2005, the population from Morocco it reached 501 units (299 males and 202 females). Residents from Albania reached 394 people (210 males and 184 females) ; from Algeria 140 (97 males and 43 females); From UK 77 (38 males and 39 females); from Romania 73 (29 males and 44 females); from South America 80 (32 males and 40 females). The dynamics linked to the enlargement of the European Union have also influenced the radical change in the population of Umbria, especially that relating to 2006-2007 which saw the enlargement extend to Romania and Bulgaria. The enlargement in 2007 led, in fact, to a notable increase of "neo-community" residents in the demography of the Municipality of Umbertide. Above all, the Romanian population increased exponentially: it went from 48 residents (21 males and 27 females) in December 2004 to 234 residents (108 males and 126 females) and in 2016 there were 459 residents (176 males and 283 females). Le linee di indagine (edited by Francesco Deplanu) As regards the demography of the territory, we propose a diachronic path, from the sixteenth century. to date, in search of significant trend lines even if exposed to the diversity of sources and survey times. We believe, however, that we can identify two "lines" of trend: 1) the change of an almost millennial form of settlement, from "scattered" to "centralized", 2) the inversion from being a land of emigration, starting in the 1960s, to being a "land of arrival", from the end of the 21st century. This attempt will not be able to give certain indications. This is because both for the vastness of the time considered that due to the lack of cognitive demographic interests in the surveys that reached us from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century, as well as the differences in the forms of survey: from the castle to the countryside, from the “fires” to the “people.” As regards the sources, after the "Council of Trent" up to the unification of Italy it is above all the Dioceses and parishes that can give us important information. Only with the Kingdom of Italy and the contemporary ISTAT data of the Italian Republic can we get a less uncertain idea of the evolution of demography as a whole. For centuries the population of Fratta it remained in an extremely limited number. Piccolpasso in 1565 shows us in fact between 300 and 400 inhabitants. Giorgi's map, from a few decades later, always shows us a small amount of population within the walls, but it gives us a new "datum." That is, most of the population lived around the walls, and it was distributed in a "sparse" manner. Settlement that was consequence of an economic system, sharecropping, which will characterize the distribution of the fine population to the second half of the twentieth century. We can dare to find a line of union between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, regardless of the increase in the population in approaching us, or in the constant division of the population between "countryside" and "city walls". scattered settlement linked to the exploitation of the territories: the system sharecropper. Since then, but concentrated in the last 70-80 years, we can identify two "revolutions" that have changed the use of the territory and the Umbertidese demography. The first great revolution was the crisis and then the end of sharecropping, which led to the abandonment of the countryside and the growth of the urban fabric, as well as the emigration of the population. Emigration lasted until the 1970s; internal and abroad. The second great revolution depended on another change in the production system: mechanization in the primary and secondary sector, which made the local production system attractive for some areas of the world, from seasonal to metalworking jobs. This second major demographic change transformed us from a land of emigration to a land of immigration. Let's start with "order": Piccolpasso in " The plants and portraits of the cities and lands of Umbria under the government of Perugia ", he spoke of 80 fires connected to the castle: " Fratta dei Sigli di Uberto fires about 80. ". Historians in general hazard a number of 4-6 "souls" for "fire", we can consequently think of a population of 320 to 480 people. Piccolpasso, "The plants and portraits of the cities and lands of Umbria subject to the government of Perugia" by G. Cecchini, Publisher of the National Institute of Archeology and Art History, Rome 1963. Image from "Central Institute for the Single Catalog of Italian Libraries and for bibliographic information": https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_viewImagesManuscript.php? ID = 69561 Giorgi's Charter from the mid-16th century it is instead a "thematic map" which had the intent to represent the numerical entity of the "souls" present in the various parishes (two sheets obtained from two copper plates (475 x 680 mm each) of the Diocese of Gubbio. " Diocese of the city of Gubbio, described by the Most Reverend Don Vbaldo Georgii Clerico Evgubino ... " It is the representation of the data that the bishop Mariano Savelli, in 1567, asked to indicate to the parish priests with the number of families belonging to their parish and the distances that separated from the parish church, under the penalty of 50 florins as a fine for “reluctant” parish priests. Perhaps the final figures are at the end of 1570. The Charter (98 x 68 cm) is a real demographic census of the Diocese of Gubbio according to what was established in the Council of Trent, 1563, for the reorganization of the parishes. The Charter was created with data regarding the state of souls, with the location of parish churches, parish churches, inhabited areas, villas. On the map there is a division into squares and rectangles that roughly delimits the parish district, usually with numbers indicating the distance in miles from the parish. In the southern area, where our "Fratta" insists, we see that the percentage of dispersion of the rural population is very high, this suggests to "sharecropping". In contemporary documents there is also talk of "vinea" which indicates the cultivation of the vine practiced on the ground. Surely this spatial distribution of the population, with scattered settlements, speaks to us of a new tranquility of being able to live outside the city walls compared to past centuries and of a productivity of such places. It does not describe the territory, where it is cultivated or wooded, but the distribution of the population. With some precision, however, it is also possible to obtain the number of inhabitants of the various places, as well as of the entire diocese which had more than 20,000 inhabitants, taking into account that each "house" indicated 5 people. In the quadrant of the parishes around “La Fratta” they are identifiable 42 “houses” outside the walls and 22 inside. Within the walls of ancient Fratta, with the parish of San Giovanni in good evidence, considering this "rule" to be true, there are 22 "houses", or about 110 people. walls in the countryside. Since the houses in the quadrant are 42. For the same counting system there are 210 people outside the walls, about 320 people in the parishes of Fratta. Very similar to that of Piccolpasso. "Diocese of the city of Gubbio, described by the Most Reverend Don Vbaldo Georgii Clerico Evgubino ..." Image from "Lithographic copy of Giorgi's map published in 1574" by the Flag-waving Group of Gubbio with the contribution of Enrico Passeri Financial Advisor of the Azimut Group ", 2005 Until the Kingdom of Italy we have no univocal and easy to interpret data while the contemporary age, with its large population movements from the countryside to the city in the post-war period and the immigration flows of the last decades, can be investigated in more detail. These will be the events on which we will focus in order to better understand in which direction the identity of our country can go. For this at the end of the page you will find the references to the subsections of "arrivals", with the first stories of the people who arrived with the immigration phenomenon and of the "departures", with the first stories of our emigrants especially in the period 1950-70. However, we know, for example, that in the register of souls of the Diocese of Gubbio of July 1808 it appears that in the "Fratta" there were 346 inhabitants in the parishes of San Giovanni Battista and of Santa Croce (with Sant'Erasmo) 1051 inhabitants, both urban and rural, there were therefore 1397 souls in total. The source is a post by the local historian Cece di Gubbio . However, it is impossible to compare these data with those of about 50 years later, with the Kingdom of Italy, which present more than 10,000 inhabitants in the municipality of Umbertide. This is because the Diocese does not correspond to the whole territory of the "Comunità di Fratta" Institution (denomination of 1808) and there should be other parishes under the Dioceses of Città di Castello or Perugia, with the relative documents. Other information on the settlement of Umbertide in the nineteenth century comes to us from Renato Codovini thanks to the reworking made by Fabio Mariotti in our section on " Fratta-Umbertide 800 ". During the Napoleonic rule, in 1812 the" Maire "Magnanini communicated as a population of the Community of thicket "about 1,000 inhabitants", to specify after a few days a smaller number, 790 inhabitants. The first more precise indications in the following decade they do not come from a secular source, but from a religious one. Codiovini informs us: " In 1833 we have a first" state of souls ", a statistical survey wanted by the bishop, made by the parish priests house by house and therefore quite reliable. From this we learn that the inhabitants of the town are 825 gathered in 205 families, with an average of 4 people per family. Of these, 140 belong to the parish of S. Erasmo and S. Croce united and 65 families to that of S. Giovanni Battista. ". The fluctuations of the population, however limited, may depend on which parishes or settlements are counted. Certainly the population was not only minor, but was still mainly present in the rural settlements and in the smaller villages of the surrounding area. The evolution of the population from the Kingdom of Italy to today However aggregate, why total, these are the general data of the Umbertidese population from the unification of Italy to today. They serve as a basis for reflecting on the population movement of the last 150 years, even if they do not give us the measure of the significant movement of inhabitants from the countryside to the city. Year Residents 1861 10.184 1871 11.174 1881 11,537 1901 13.007 1911 13,248 1921 14,588 1931 15,647 1936 15.146 1951 16,077 1961 14,497 1971 13,498 1981 14,183 1991 14,379 2001 15,254 2016 16.607 According to prof. Bruno Porrozzi who dealt with it in his book " Umbertide and its Territory. History and images. " In the 1950s our town began to develop towards the south-east of the still well-defined central nucleus near the "Fratta" as the city center is still called by older people . The majority of the population was still in the countryside but would later move to the urban area. In the countryside characterized by polyculture "p greased " from farmhouses, farms and modest hamlets, it was inhabited essentially by families of sharecroppers and other nuclei, linked to some extent with agriculture (blacksmiths, farriers, carpenters, masons, small traders, brokers, etc.); everyone worked to provide the citizens with supplies . "With the birth of an artisanal and industrial development in the 1960s, together with the change in the rules on sharecropping in 1964, the population shifted towards the center. At the beginning of the 1980s, prof. Porrozzi " In the Municipality of Umbertide, sixty-one sharecroppers with one hundred and fifty-nine units currently operate in agriculture, thirty companies with one hundred and twelve permanent employees, fifty-six companies with temporary workers, three hundred and seventy-nine companies directly managed with seven hundred and sixty units. Five cooperatives have been set up (CAU , Molino Popolare Altotiberino, Fratelli Cervi, CIZAUP, Alto Tevere Tobacco Producers), which employ a few dozen permanent workers. ". In this modernized context, the population had chosen to move towards the city center. The synthesis more significant than the changes, however, is not only the doubling over twenty years of downtown population from 4780 a 8629 people, out of about 15,000 inhabitants of the Common, but they are data concerning the work sector from the primary sector compared to the secondary sector . Within 30 years, this relationship is reversed completely; these are the numbers: we passed by 4957 agricultural workers in 1961 just 1359 in '71, and even a 1104 workers in 1981. While in the face of 1363 workers in industry in 1961, you grow up to 1960 employees in '71 and 2249 in 1981; with a clear shift of workers in the service sector not taken into consideration by the data of prof. Bruno Porrozzi, in “ Umbertide and his Territory. History and images ". To understand which sector of the primary sector was affected, let's insert a new graph between sharecroppers and direct farmers even if with only the data of 1970 and 1982: in 1970 there were 1340 sharecroppers and in 1982 alone 159, in 1970 they were counted 918 direct farmers which will be reduced slightly in 1982 or a 760 direct workers. In short, it was the sharecropping that died. The resident population of Umbertide which had reached 16,077 units in 1951, began to abruptly decline. In 1971 only 13,498 residents were registered ("Umbertide economy and society: the Municipality and the territory ", p. 22. AUR data processing on ISTAT data). The need for emigration from 1950 to 1970 If you also consider Giovanni's studio De Santis " Anthropo-geographical features of the << Alta Valle del Tevere >> area" in " The upper Tiber Valley ", extracted from " Umbria Economica" , year III, n. 4 - 1982 printed thanks to the then "Banca Popolare di Spoleto", we can see how from 1951 to 1971 the population of the Municipality of Umbertide decreased by 14.4 percent, from 16,077 to 13,498 a significant migratory flow towards foreign destinations and the Roman area generated by the inability of the production system to "maintain" the population. It influenced greatly in the precarious agricultural production system, innervated for some time from the cultivation of tobacco, the "peronospera tabacina", second Paola Laura Ciabucchi " Shadows and lights of industrial development in the Upper Tiber Valley " which reduced the cultivated area in the Upper Tiber Valley by 50% and reduced the number of employees from 1664 to 217. From that moment there was a need to grow industrial areas in our areas, allowing the current industrial development. Industrial development, which together with seasonal agricultural work and the normal tendency of emigrants to move to where they exist emigrated nuclei of the same areas has favored an inversion of trend in the population leading to the current situation of more than 16,000 inhabitants, substantially identical to 1951. In particular, the evolution of the engineering system, born connected to agricultural production already before the war, saw the birth of several companies and in 1963 the birth of Metalmeccanica Tiberina. The agricultural production system first, with seasonal jobs also linked to the cultivation of tobacco, and today the engineering and "automotive" sector, which grew alongside several large companies in the area, have acted as a catalyst for many people coming both from abroad and from other Italian regions. Current Population Growth: Immigration In fact, in recent decades, in this Umbertidese population has increased the number of "foreign" families; the definition that follows is that of the ISTAT legislation which identifies foreign residents without "citizenship": this research it does not identify the situation of naturalized immigrants, a recent phenomenon. In about 15 years it has rapidly gone from less than a thousand resident foreigners to more than 2700 according to the latest Census which was also distributed with a division by nationality of arrival. For 2020 we only have the aggregate data of 2611 people residing in Umbertide with non-Italian citizenship: Foreign resident population on 1st January 2002- Total 905 Foreign resident population as of January 1 - 2016 -Total 2703 Sources http://demo.istat.it/str2002/index03.html http://demo.istat.it/pop2019/index.html http://www.comuni-italiani.it/054/056/statistiche/popolazione.html Also from the same Istat source of the 2016 census it is possible to know which are the different nationalities of origin of resident foreign citizens: four, Moroccan, Albanian, Romanian and Algerian are over 100 units. In short, a substantial part of the resident population in Umbertide is the bearer of varied histories and cultures. The awareness of how the past has structured the traditions in addition to the rural and urban territory in which they live today should be everyone's heritage, especially from the second generations who, in addition to bringing their own cultural and experience baggage, will have to feel part of the social fabric general as completely as possible. If it is possible to trace a synthesis of these last 40-50 years, it can be seen that in the last decade of the last century, 1980-2000, a stable community residing in Umbertide has materialized, in order of magnitude, Moroccan, Albanian, Algerian and the United Kingdom. In the following twenty years the Moroccan and Albanian communities have grown, while the Algerian ones have remained stable and the United Kingdom; the Romanian community, on the other hand, ranks third in terms of total attendance. As for the flows of the largest community, that of Morocco, emigration to Italy, rather than to France as had traditionally occurred previously, developed after the oil crisis of the 1970s. On the basis of the general indications that should be compared with those of Umbria, there are two main regions from which to leave for Italy: Chaouia and Tadla, located in the central area of Morocco, two of the 16 regions then abolished in 2005. The Moroccan community in our territory has grown steadily, in 2005 there are 501 residents, in 2016 the residents are registered 757 people. Different speech, as written above, for the Algerian community which appears to have decreased since 2005, where there were 126 residents, while to date are indicated in number of 140. Stable in absolute numbers, but relegated by one "place", it now ranks fifth among the nationalities of foreign residents, it is Great Britain, with 77 people in 2005 and 78 residents in 2016. After the data and numbers of the demographic change we can continue in the "memory", with the singles screw e stories of the old and new people from Umberto I. By clicking on the "hot words" highlighted in yellow the first stories of who left and who arrived . SOURCES: - Bruno Porrozzi, Umbertide and his Territory. History and images. Ass. Pro Loco Umbertide, publishing Cartolibreria 10+ 10 of Venti Maurizio, Umbertide - Simona Bellucci, Umbertide in the 20th century: 1943-2000, Nuova Prhomos Editions, 2018. - Paola Laura Ciabucchi " Shadows and lights of industrial development in the Upper Tiber Valley " in " The Upper Tiber Valley ", extracted from "Umbria Economica, year III, n.4 - 1982 print of the "Banca Popolare di Spoleto" (p. 87 -89) - John De Santis " Anthropo-geographical features of the << Alta Valle del Tevere >> area" in " The upper Tiber Valley ", extracted from "Umbria Economica, year III, n.4 - 1982 print of the "Banca Popolare di Spoleto" (p. 55) - AA. VV., “ Umbertide Economy and society: the municipality and the territory ” of the Umbra Research Agency (AUR), 2008. - “Lithographic copy of Giorgi's map published in 1574”, by the Flag-waving Group of Gubbio with the contribution of Enrico Passeri Financial Advisor of the Azimut Group ”, 2005. - Maria Oda Graziani, "The Georgi card", Municipality of Gubbio and Ass. Sbandieratori Gubbio with the contribution of Enrico Passeri Financial Advisor of the Azimut Group, Graphic Art Gubbio, 2005 - http://demo.istat.it/str2002/index03.html - http://demo.istat.it/pop2019/index.html - http://www.comuni-italiani.it/054/056/statistiche/popolazione.html - " THE MOROCCAN MIGRANT AS DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION AGENT IN THE COMMUNITIES OF ORIGIN ", European Commission - Directorate-General for Justice and Home Affairs, Exodus edizioni srl, Milan 2002 (pp. 96 and following can be downloaded at the link: https://www.puntosud.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/migrante-marocchino_ITA.pdf) - h ttp: //leg15.camera.it/cartellecomuni/leg14/RapportoAttivitaCommissioni/testi/14/14_cap05_sch04.htm - https://www.umbertidestoria.net/fratta-umbertide-dell-ottocento - https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_viewImagesManuscript.php?ID=69561 Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Marc Bloch: «The good historian resembles the ogre in the fairy tale: where he smells human flesh, there he knows that he is his prey. " I "numeri" del Piccolpasso Il Giorgi ed il popolamento sparso I "dati" della Diocesi nel 1808 I censimenti del Regno d'Italia Lo spostamento verso la città L'esubero dei lavoratori e la "morte" della mezzadria L'immigrazione L'immigrazione neocomunitaria

Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Assunta in Rasina The ruins of an imposing architectural structure in the hills of the Niccone valley curated by Fabio Mariotti The Sanctuary is located in the Municipality of Umbertide, on the hills north of the Niccone valley, in the immediate vicinity of the Rocca di Rasina, in the center of a plateau about 600 meters high and surrounded by thick wood. Very little is known about this imposing church also because there is no historical documentation on its origins and the writings that are interested in it can be counted on the fingertips. The information reported here is taken from the book "The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Assunta in Rasina" by the Perugian architect Luca Sportellini published in 2011 which has as an interesting subtitle "Analysis and proposal for attribution to Francesco di Giorgio Martini". Lo Sportellini, in fact, on the basis of an accurate technical study and on the historical period in which the work is presumed to have been completed, puts forward the fascinating hypothesis that the project of the church was drawn up by the famous Renaissance architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, among other things, for the project of the Ducal Palace of Urbino. It is clear that this is only a hypothesis and, to use the same words of the author of the text, "this hypothesis is still considered an open question that will have to be carefully evaluated by specific skills before being able to definitively establish if really there was an involvement of the great architect and if so, to what extent should a debt be recognized to his work ". To enter into the merits of the structure, it is an organism with a central Greek cross plan, whose arms measure up to 24 m. and whose vault reaches a height of about 14 m. (a considerable size, considering that it was built in the open countryside, in a particularly isolated area). In Sportellini's opinion, other elements, "including the presence of Doric architectural orders, the pre-existing chapel incorporated in the Lauretan manner, the crossed vault set on a basic pseudoctagon, make this building exceptional to the point of being able to a certain interest in the history of Italian architecture of the late 15th century ". It is assumed that the construction of the sanctuary began between 1485 and 1491 and ended between 1501 and 1504. The construction of sanctuaries dedicated to the Madonna is in fact one of the main trends of Italian architecture at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is therefore very probable that the foundation of the Rasina church was due to a miracle that occurred through the intercession of the Madonna to whom the chapel on which the sanctuary was later built was dedicated. This would also explain the location of the structure in such an isolated and not easily accessible place. From the few archival information found, it appears that the church in 1800 must have already been in a state of semi-abandonment and then finally went into disuse with the first collapses and structural injuries that occurred at the beginning of the 1900s, in particular on the occasion of the Umbrian-Aretino earthquake. in 1917, while the definitive collapse of the central vault, already seriously compromised, was determined by the 1997 earthquake. The now secular state of neglect and its considerable size unfortunately suggest that its complete reconstruction is difficult if not impossible. At least an intervention that would prevent its definitive disappearance would be desirable. Photo: - Superintendence for Historical, Artistic, Ethno-anthropological Heritage (1942) - Peppe Cecchetti - Amedeo Massetti (2011) Sources: "The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Assunta in Rasina" - Luca Sportellini - EFFE Fabrizio Fabbri Editore Srl - 2011 1942. Photo Superintendence of Historic Heritage 1942. The interior of the church 1942. Image of the vault 1942. Glimpses of the interior 2011. Glimpses of the interior 2011. Some pictures of the ruins

Write a title here. Click to edit and add your own. This is a paragraph area where you can add your own text. Just click “Edit Text” or double click here to add your own content and make changes to the font. It's a great place to tell a story about your business and let users know more about you. Track Name Artist Name 00:00 / 01:04 Arrivi e Partenze Il popolamento di Umbertide.... Partenze Settimio Presciutti A cura di Loredana Presciutti "Settimio Presciutti nasce nel 1924 e sposa nel 1951 Annunziata Bomboletti più giovane di tre anni, nata nel 1927... Carlos Tonanni A cura di Francesco Deplanu Jaboticabal, in Brasile, in 50 anni passò da essere un villaggio ad una città: era una “parrocchia” nel 1848, venne smembrata dal distretto di “São Bento de Araraquara” e passò ad avere lo status di “città” nel 1902. ... Gino Monsignori A cura di Miriam Monsignori Mio padre, Gino Monsignori, nell’estate del 1954 è un giovanotto ambizioso di appena 22 anni che desidera... Carlo Becchetti A cura di Francesco Deplanu Carlo Becchetti, nato nel 1936 in una famiglia mezzadrile, con un il fratello Primo di 14 anni più grande, emigrò in Svizzera per poi tornare. Write a title here. Click to edit and add your own. This is a paragraph area where you can add your own text. Just click “Edit Text” or double click here to add your own content and make changes to the font. It's a great place to tell a story about your business and let users know more about you. Il popolamento di Umbertide.... Arrivi Ashley Amerson Product Manager Brad Grecco Marketing Associate Kelly Parker HR Representative Marcus Harris Account Director

Gli umbertidesi del Gruppo di combattimento “Cremona” di Federico Ciarabelli 14 settembre 2014 Indice 1 - Costituzione del Gruppo 1 1.1 - Il Gruppo di Combattimento 1.1.1 - Militari e volontari 2 - L’elenco dei “Cremonini” 2.1 - Alcune note su Guido Cecchetti 2.2 - Un volontario non umbertidese 3 - La partenza dei volontari 4 - Decorazioni e riconoscimenti 8 4.1 - La decorazione di Guerriero Leonardi 4.2 - La decorazione di Rino Pucci 4.3 - Croci di Guerra al Valor Militare 4.4 - Altre decorazioni e riconoscimenti 5 - Il rientro delle salme 6 - I volontari umbertidesi in alcune pubblicazioni del primo dopoguerra 7 - Altri documenti 7.1 - Il “Club Cremona” Sommario Il testo riferisce su alcuni documenti conservati in archivi pubblici e privati riguardanti i combattenti del Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona” che – nel gennaio/febbraio 1945 – partirono da Umbertide per il fronte ravennate. L’analisi delle fonti ha reso possibile stabilire l’elenco corretto, aggiornando quelli precedentemente pubblicati. Gli archivi consultati sono: Archivio di Stato di Perugia, Archivio storico del Comune di Umbertide, fondo Raffaele Mancini depositato presso la sezione Anpi di Umbertide, Archivio fotografico del PCI di Umbertide. 1 - Costituzione del Gruppo La Divisione “Cremona” – da cui ebbe origine il Gruppo di Combattimento – era impegnata in Corsica l’8 settembre 1943. Dopo un breve periodo in cui partecipò al conflitto contro i tedeschi al fianco dei maquisards e dell’esercito francese, fu da questo disarmata e inviata in Sardegna, dove rimase fino al settembre 1944. Venne quindi trasferita ad Altavilla Irpina (AV) e poi ad Ascoli Piceno. La Divisione giunta in Italia era ridotta decisamente male: disarmata, falcidiata dalla malaria e dal tifo, male attrezzata, malnutrita e a ranghi ridotti non costituiva più, di fatto, un elemento utile per contribuire alla liberazione del territorio nazionale. 1.1 - Il Gruppo di Combattimento Lo Stato Maggiore dell’Esercito decise – alla fine del 1944 – di riorganizzarlo costituendo il Gruppo di combattimento “Cremona” agli ordini del generale Clemente Primieri. Il Gruppo fu strutturato in tre Reggimenti: 21º, 22º Fanteria, 7º Artiglieria e delle unità di supporto (1), sul modello delle divisioni britanniche. Il Gruppo venne inquadrato nel 1º Corpo d’Armata canadese (VIII Armata Britannica); il raccordo con gli Alleati venne svolto attraverso il 51º B.L.U. (British Liaison Unit). In aggregazione alle forze Alleate, sullo stesso settore del fronte, combatté anche la 28ª Brigata Garibaldi “Mario Gordini”, comandata da Arrigo Boldrini (2). Il Gruppo entrò in linea sottodimensionato (3) – nonostante l’apporto dei volontari – sul tratto tra Ravenna e Alfonsine nei primi mesi del 1945. Il 2 e 3 marzo ebbe luogo la più cruenta azione tra quelle a cui partecipò. Al termine di quello scontro ci fu la conquista della località di Torre Primaro. Il conflitto continuò sul fiume Senio, superato il quale il Gruppo liberò Alfonsine (10 aprile 1945), quindi avanzò affrancando anche Cavarzere, Chioggia, Mestre e Venezia. Al termine della campagna militare le perdite registrate dalla “Cremona” furono: 234 morti (di cui 208 in combattimento), 614 feriti (di cui 608 in combattimento), 73 dispersi (4). 1.1.1 - Militari e volontari Il Gruppo di combattimento arruolò i volontari provenienti dalle zone liberate (principalmente da Toscana, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria e Marche). Essi avevano in molti casi già partecipato alla Resistenza o erano organizzati dai rinati partiti politici (5). La loro immissione determinò una condizione di complessa gestione per le gerarchie militari del Gruppo. Il Comando e gran parte degli ufficiali, infatti, erano fedeli alla monarchia sabauda e interessati ad assicurare a questa, grazie alla nuova collocazione delle truppe al fianco degli Alleati, una posizione un po’ più vantaggiosa in vista degli accordi di pace. Tale visione contrastava con le intenzioni e il pensiero dei volontari che, spesso, non riconobbero l’autorità degli ufficiali ubbidendo invece ai loro comandanti partigiani. In questo quadro – e in presenza di seri problemi legati alla disponibilità di divise e armamenti, scarsità di razioni, fenomeni di abbandono dei reparti – il Comando attuò delle iniziative per migliorare le condizioni di vita e instaurò un proficuo confronto con i capi dei volontari (6). Ma non sempre le tensioni si stemperarono. Una vera e propria protesta si verificò quando, in occasione della visita alle truppe di Umberto di Savoia nella sua qualità di luogotenente del Regno del Sud, la truppa subissò di fischi il corteo e al presentat’arm alcuni volontari rovesciarono la canna del fucile verso il basso. Altri coprirono il suono della banda musicale, che eseguiva la marcia reale, intonando la canzone (7): Già trema la casa Savoia Macchiata di fango e di sangue Si svegli il popol che langue Si svegli il popol che langue. In riferimento a questo episodio Orlando Ceccagnoli, in una testimonianza (8) resa per lo spettacolo teatrale messo in scena nel 1975 ad Umbertide in occasione delle celebrazioni del 30º anniversario delle vicende, raccontò che vari volontari – fra i quali Ceccagnoli stesso e Serafino Faloci – furono posti temporaneamente agli arresti per impedire loro di partecipare alle manifestazioni di protesta. 2 - L’elenco dei “Cremonini” Il primo elenco pubblicato fu riportato nel quadro realizzato poco tempo dopo gli eventi bellici. Si tratta di una composizione grafica costituita da disegni e un collage fotografico. La figura centrale venne presa dai diplomi rilasciati dall’Anpi ai partigiani (9). I ritratti fotografici furono collocati ponendo in posizione centrale Quirino Pucci, Giuseppe Rosati (caduti in combattimento) e Pasquale Ceccarelli, nella sua qualità di tenente comandante. Gli altri componenti vennero disposti su due file in ordine (quasi) alfabetico. Non di tutti i volontari vennero pubblicale foto e di quelli senza immagine furono riportati i nomi in un riquadro. Già questa lista dei combattenti (composta di 23 nomi) fu redatta con delle omissioni e imprecisioni: • si nota l’assenza di Orlando Ceccagnoli; • è sbagliata la scritta “Volontari umbertinesi”; • Guerriero Confini è indicato come Giovanni; • Trippelli è riportato come Trippella • Addo Gennari è rinominato Aldo. Nel quadro non venne elencato Leonello Galina, che non partecipò alle azioni belliche perché dovette rientrare a Umbertide (10). In successive pubblicazioni i Cremonini umbertidesi risultano essere 24 (11). In realtà i volontari furono 25, dei quali 24 combattenti. Dalla comparazione delle liste emerge che Guido Cecchetti fu citato solo nel quadro. 2.1 - Alcune note su Guido Cecchetti Guido Cecchetti era militare di carriera e dopo l’8 settembre 1943 rientrò ad Umbertide. Partecipò alla Resistenza nella Brigata proletaria d’urto San Faustino (12) tra febbraio e luglio 1944. Dopo lo scioglimento di questa formazione (luglio 1944), si presentò al 22º Reggimento Fanteria “Cremona” e fu poi assegnato al 7º Reggimento Artiglieria. Cecchetti era pienamente coinvolto nell’azione degli antifascisti umbertidesi. Già nel 1944, infatti, Raffaele Mancini lo propose (13) per la carica di segretario del Comitato dei Patrioti. Ecco il testo della lettera: Al Sindaco del Comune di Umbertide Rendo noto alla S.V. che il serg. mag. Cecchetti Guido sarebbe disposto ad assumere la segreteria del Comitato dei Patrioti di questo Comune. La prego volerlo prendere in considerazione dato che il mio attuale impegno non mi consente di poter oltre tenere tale incarico. Dal giorno di oggi do al suddetto le relative consegne. Con osservanza Raffaele Mancini Umbertide lì 29 novembre 1944 2.2 - Un volontario non umbertidese I documenti analizzati hanno permesso di identificare il volontario Veschi. A lui si fece riferimento negli elenchi con i nomi di Armando o Francesco, ma una lettera (14) del Sindaco Bellarosa ne riporta i dati anagrafici e, sebbene fosse indicato Bologna come luogo di nascita, da ulteriori ricerche è risultato che Romeo Veschi nacque a Maiolati (Ancona) (15) nel 1925. In altra missiva (16) il Sindaco dichiarò che Veschi – nel periodo di presenza a Umbertide – non ebbe fissa dimora e che non vi fossero parenti residenti nel Comune. 3 - La partenza dei volontari I documenti consultati forniscono notizie anche in relazione alla partenza dei volontari che – come già noto dal racconto dei reduci – avvenne in date diverse. Se il nucleo principale partì il 29 gennaio (dall’analisi dei fogli matricolari o delle testimonianze si può ipotizzare che fossero: Alboni, Bargelli, Beacci, Bruschi, Ceccagnoli, Ceccarelli, Caprini, Confini, Faloci, Galina, Loschi, Mola, Pucci, Rosati, F. Silvioni, G. Silvioni, Trippella, Veschi, perché risultano arruolati tra il 27 e il 30 gennaio 1945), altri anticiparono l’arruolamento (Lozzi 3 gennaio, Leonardi 14 gennaio, Cecchetti e Mariotti 20 gennaio) o lo posticiparono (Benito Silvioni 3 febbraio, Paneni 10 febbraio). La sera del 28 gennaio si svolse al Teacine di Umbertide (oggi Teatro dei Riuniti in piazza Fortebraccio) una festa per salutare i volontari in partenza. Alcune informazioni sullo svolgimento della serata sono state documentate nel lavoro teatrale di Roselletti (17). Testimonianza di Anna Ciarabelli: “Io me ricordo che la sera prima che ’sti ragazzi partissero era stata fatta ’na festa: se ballaa proprio perché doveono partì ’sti ragazzi de la “Cremona” tant’è vero che m’arcordo che io ci so’ vinuta dal Niccone. Adesso ’n m’arcordo né come né con chi. . . ma c’ero. E me ricordo ’l particolare che se ballaa con tanta allegria e io diceo: Ma devon partì ’sti ragazzi, devon partì ’sti fioli e ’n’ho capito la festa da ballo. E ’stu Rino l’avea preso tanto l’allegria e per 1u’ dovea esse proprio ’na gran festa perché ’l facea siguro pe ’n’ideale anche perché me sa che la famiglia. . . penso che ’n era tanto contenta. Ballaono tutta sorta de balli de danze , e ’stu Rino era ’n ragazzo robusto; ’n bel giovanottone. . . e facea anche ’n po’ effetto a vedello. . . se notava ’n somma. E pu ci n’erono tanti. . . c’eron tutti! Me ricordo anche ’l punto ’ndu ero che gni guardao perché Rino ballaa da solo ’n mezzo e noialtri giovani gn’aveime fatto ’l cerchio ’n po’ perché s’era messo a ballà a torso nudo come si facesse la danza del ventre e ’n po’ perché gni se volea bene tutti perché era l’amico degli amici; era l’amico de tutti. E diceo: Guarda stu giovanotto che spirito che cià. . . lu’ devesse proprio uno convinto perché sinnò tutte ’ste cose ’n le farebbe. . .”. Durante la serata furono fatti probabilmente anche dei discorsi. Orlando Ceccagnoli (18), infatti, così ricordò quella serata al Teacine: “Noi eravamo ad un veglione organizzato dal Fronte della Gioventù Comunista e venne un capitano a dicci: “Ragazzi, c’è bisogno de gente giovane che viene a combatte per salvà l’Italia”. Lu’ avea già segnato dei nomi s’un taccuino e noialtri aderimmo ’na ventina, fra i quali chiedemmo che venisse con noi un comandante e se presentò l’Avvocato Ramaccioni, alora era Sindaco di Umbertide ed era Ufficiale di marina e disse: “Vado via io con loro”. Senonché al mattino aspettammo ’l nostro comandante e non c’era. Si presentò alora un certo Ceccarelli, sottotenente dei paracadutisti, che facea ’l contabile ta n’a ditta che arfacea ’l ponte. Questo, quando vide che noi eravamo ’n po’ titubanti nel partire, visto che ’l comandante ’n c’era e che ci dispiacea, . . . non fece altro che abbandonare la borsa coi soldi che avea dentro, le fatture, i pagamenti, i libretti degli operai e disse alla Mariettina de Ragno che era la padrona del Bar de Piazza: “Tenete questa borsa consegnatela alla mamma mia, al babbo mio e fategli tanti abbracci e tanti saluti, e montò con noi. Noi se partì da la piazza, giù verso la Piaggiola perché ’l ponte era rotto, con il camion scoperto e se cantaa tutti allegri. La gente forsemnon se rendea conto. . . pensava forse che andaime a ’n’altra festa da ballo, forse. . . purtroppo ’nvece Umbertide ha subito quello ha subito.” Venne inoltre data lettura di una lettera scritta da Fernando Bernardini (19), indirizzata ai genitori residenti a Badia San Cassiano. La lettera giunse a destinazione con il contributo di un militare inglese a cui la Brigata Cacciatori delle Alpi, in cui militò Bernardini, dette assistenza per oltrepassare le linee nemiche. Il testo non viene riprodotto per rispettare la volontà dell’autore (20). Il copione dello spettacolo teatrale riporta altre due testimonianze relative alla partenza dei volontari. Rosa Capecci riferì (21): “M’arcordo che poco doppo che semo arrivate ’n piazza partirono ’sti ragazzi sopra ’n camion aperto tu ’l di dietro; e c’era Pretone (22) che era tra i più allegri e cantaa e scherzaa e pu, quando partirono cantarono tutti ’n coro “tornerai. . . ””. Dal racconto di Gina Confini (23): “Quello che per davvero me dispiace è che Umbertide a la partenza de ’sti freghi reagì con ’n certo assenteismo”. 4 - Decorazioni e riconoscimenti Nei testi pubblicati le informazioni presenti in relazione alle decorazioni ricevute dai combattenti non risultano complete. Infatti oltre alla Medaglia d’Argento al Valor Militare concessa a Guerriero Leonardi, va aggiunta quella di bronzo al Valor Militare (alla memoria) concessa a Pucci. Inoltre le Croci di Guerra al Valor Militare (24) assegnate sono due e non una sola. 4.1 - La decorazione di Guerriero Leonardi Leonardi è stato decorato con Medaglia d’Argento al Valore Militare con la seguente motivazione: Comandante di squadra fucilieri durante un contrattacco nemico sotto le raffiche di mitragliatrici, batteva la postazione, impegnava il fucile mitragliatore della sua squadra aprendo il fuoco sul nemico. Ferito da pallottola che gli amputava un dito, al Comandante di plotone che voleva avviarlo al posto di medicazione rispose: “Sig. Tenente, ho ancora nove dita per fare fuoco.” Impegnava quindi nuovamente l’arma e continuava l’azione, fino a contrattacco respinto. Lasciava il riparo soltanto al mattino dietro ordine perentorio del Comandante di Compagnia. Zona Po di Primaro (Ravenna) 3/3/1945 4.2 - La decorazione di Rino Pucci Pucci è stato insignito di Medaglia di Bronzo al Valore Militare (alla memoria). Qui di seguito se ne riporta la motivazione: Capogruppo fucilieri, durante un contrattacco tedesco malgrado le violente raffiche delle mitragliatrici avversarie, concorreva con il fuoco del moschetto automatico a respingere il tentativo. Successivamente, passato il suo reparto all’attacco, si sostituiva ad un tiratore di fucile mitragliatore rimasto ferito e, mentre fra i primi si dirigeva sull’obbiettivo, cadeva mortalmente ferito da raffiche di mitragliatrice. Zona Po Primaro 3/3/45 4.3 - Croci di Guerra al Valor Militare Le pubblicazioni riguardanti i volontari umbertidesi riportano la notizia che Benito Silvioni è stato decorato con la medaglia di questa classe. In realtà i decorati furono due e la medaglia non fu assegnata a Benito, bensì al fratello Fioravante. • Pasquale Ceccarelli • Fioravante Silvioni 4.4 - Altre decorazioni e riconoscimenti Queste sono le decorazioni (25) che risultano concesse ai volontari umbertidesi: • Antonio Bargelli, Croce al Merito di Guerra e Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione, • Augusto Bruschi, Croce al Merito di Guerra per la partecipazione alla guerra di Liberazione, • Claudio Caprini, Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione, • Orlando Ceccagnoli, Croce al Merito di Guerra, • Guido Cecchetti, Croce al Merito di Guerra e Distintivo della Guerra 1940-1943, • Serafino Faloci, Croce al Merito di Guerra e Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione, • Francesco Loschi, Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione, • Rolando Paneni, Croce al Merito di Guerra e Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione, • Quirino Pucci, Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione, • Benito Silvioni, Croce al Merito di Guerra (1940-45), • Guerriero Silvioni, Distintivo della Guerra (1941). Tutte le informazioni relative alle decorazioni sono state tratte dai fogli matricolari (26) e dal testo di Mastrobuono (27). 5 - Il rientro delle salme I funerali dei caduti umbertidesi sul Po di Primaro e di Giuseppe Starnini (28) si svolsero a Umbertide il 5 dicembre 1945. L’Archivio storico del Comune di Umbertide conserva alcuni documenti inerenti la traslazione delle salme. Il 16 maggio 1945 il Sindaco scrisse al Prefetto di Ravenna (29): “I familiari dei volontari suddetti [Pucci e Rosati] desiderano ora trasportare quì [sic] in Umbertide le salme dei loro cari. Ed è a mio mezzo che gli stessi chiedono a V.E. l’autorizzazione per il trasporto delle salme in parola dal Cimitero di Mezzano ad Umbertide, autorizzazione che invocano in assenza di tasse”. La Prefettura di Perugia (30) inviò al Sindaco – perché questi lo notificasse ai familiari del caduto – il decreto di autorizzazione al trasferimento della salma di Starnini da Firenze a Umbertide. Il Sindaco di Umbertide, il 29 novembre 1945, scrisse a quello di Ravenna per chiedere aiuto e l’appoggio poiché è desiderio vivissimo delle famiglie dei Caduti e della Sezione Partigiani d’Italia di Umbertide di effettuare la traslazione delle due Salme ad Umbertide e lo pregò di adoperarsi perché tale desiderio si potesse realizzare (31). Nell’Archivio umbertidese non vi è traccia di risposte da parte della Prefettura e del Comune di Ravenna. Probabilmente esse non vi furono dato che un gruppo di umbertidesi, rimasti sconosciuti, partì e trafugò le salme. In relazione ai funerali abbiamo la testimonianza di Gina Confini (32): “L’unica volta che gli umbertidesi l’hanno veramente sentita e hanno capito quello che ’sti ragazzi aveono fatto, è stato quando hanno riportato Rino e Rosati dal cimitero d’Alfonsine. . . (33) che pu’ ’n è stata ’na cosa semplice perché ’sti ragazzi rubarono addirittura i corpi. 6 - I volontari umbertidesi in alcune pubblicazioni del primo dopoguerra Le vicende dei Gruppi di combattimento (34) furono documentate fino dal primo dopoguerra. Il primo testo dedicato al “Cremona” (35) venne pubblicato a cura dell’Esercito italiano nel 1945. La citazione che segue è tratta da quel testo e descrive il momento dell’immissione dei volontari nelle file dell’esercito regolare: “Il Gruppo è autorizzato a reclutare volontari, traendoli dalle disponibilità della zona. La scelta cade su quelli che hanno già impugnato le armi contro i tedeschi, combattendo inquadrati in formazioni di patrioti. Sono elementi che anelano a continuare la guerra di liberazione da essi volontariamente intrapresa ed il cui spirito dimostra una ferma volontà di battersi e di vincere. Sono patrioti che giungono accompagnati dagli stessi capi agli ordini dei quali hanno operato e che ora, equipaggiati dal Gruppo, vengono a rinforzare le file degli anziani del «Cremona» che tanto dura lotta stanno combattendo. Sono patrioti delle zone di Perugia, Gualdo Tadino, Firenze, Città di Castello, Spoleto, Terni, Umbertide, Arezzo, Ancona. . . , patrioti di diverse regioni che hanno già combattuto per la stessa causa e che ora – incorporati in reparti regolari – si fondono con i fanti, gli artiglieri e i genieri del Gruppo. È il primo sintomo, il primo passo verso la costituzione di quello che dovrà essere il nuovo Esercito italiano. Gli umbertidesi furono inseriti nella 9ª Compagnia; Ceccarelli comandò il 2º plotone e quasi tutti gli altri servirono nel 3º plotone (36). Cecchetti fu destinato al 7ºArtiglieria”. Troviamo un riferimento alla Compagnia degli umbertidesi in Pierangeli Ricci (37) nelle pagine che raccontano la battaglia sul Po di Primaro. Alle prime luci dell’alba del 3 marzo il nuovo schieramento dei reparti è il seguente: Avanzate: 9ª compagnia del 22º a sinistra; 11ª compagnia del 22º a destra; Ambedue a circa 200 metri da Casa dei Venti. Rincalzo: 10ª compagnia del 22º fanteria nel bosco, all’altezza di un gruppo di case senza nome. 7 - Altri documenti L’Archivio storico del Comune di Umbertide conserva altri documenti relativi ad aspetti personali dei volontari. Ve ne sono di riferiti ad attività lavorative svolte prima della partenza per il fronte, altri connessi ad attività politiche: Addo Gennari, Claudio Caprini e Guerriero Silvioni furono presenti il 23 luglio 1944 all’assembla costitutiva del CLN di Umbertide, come risulta dall’atto di costituzione del CLN di Umbertide (38). Tra le attività di interesse pubblico attuate dopo il rientro a Umbertide, se ne segnalano alcune di Pasquale Ceccarelli e Claudio Caprini. Esse possono valere come esempio dell’impegno politico, sociale e culturale, nonché dell’attiva partecipazione alla vita comunitaria profuso dai Volontari. Pasquale Ceccarelli svolse per alcuni mesi del 1945 (da maggio a novembre 1945) la funzione di assessore supplente della Giunta comunale. Propose al Sindaco (39) - per conto di un gruppo di persone - l’istituzione di una scuola serale gratuita “Allo scopo di dare a chiunque la possibilità di potersi istruire ed emancipare”. Claudio Caprini fu il primo Presidente della sezione Anpi di Umbertide (40), partecipò all’assemblea costitutiva della società sportiva Tiberis (41) e promosse – per conto del gruppo dei volontari – la realizzazione del “Club Cremona”. In anni successivi, Serafino Faloci fu Sindaco di Umbertide dal 15 giugno 1952 al 26 novembre 1960. 7.1 - Il “Club Cremona” I documenti riferiti alla costituzione del Club conservati sono due: 1. la richiesta avanzata al Sindaco (42), 2. la risposta del Sindaco (43). Di seguito si riporta il testo della domanda: Egregio Sig. Sindaco I volontari del gruppo di combattimento “Cremona”, organizzati in Sezione Permanente, chiedono a codesta Amm. Com/le il permesso di poter usare la parte estrema del luogo così detto Mercato Vecchio, per organizzare un locale di trattenimenti all’aperto. Si garantisce che anche le abitazioni più vicine a detto luogo vanno esenti da eventuali disturbi acustici che la gestione del suddetto locale può provocare in ore notturne. Gli eventuali introiti della gestione, che prende il nome di “Club Cremona”, una volta rifusi i capitali impiegati nella costruzione, andranno a tutto beneficio di Istituti ed Enti di assistenza. Fiduciosi della V/a comprensione, fraternamente Vi salutiamo. Per i Volontari del “Club Cremona” F.to Caprini Claudio Ringraziamenti Debbo molti ringraziamenti a tutte le persone che hanno messo a disposizione la loro competenza e conoscenza per indirizzare questa attività ed in particolare al personale dell’Archivio di Stato di Perugia, dell’Ufficio anagrafe e all’Archivio storico del Comune di Umbertide. Grazie ad Achille Roselletti per avere messo a disposizione il copione dello suo spettacolo teatrale. Esso costituisce una preziosa fonte di informazioni e testimonianze dei diretti protagonisti. Acronimi AdSPG - Archivio di Stato di Perugia AsCU - Archivio storico del Comune di Umbertide Fonti delle immagini - Circolo Filatelico «V. Monti»di Alfonsine, Diario storico militare del Gruppo di Combattimento Cremona - Archivio della Sezione Anpi di Umbertide - Archivio fotografico PCI Umbertide - Archivio fotografico Comune di Umbertide Riferimenti bibliografici - Bernardini Fernando. «I miei ricordi di guerra : Realizzato nel 1966 a Siena, dopo oltre venti anni, grazie alla conservazione di alcuni appunti dell’epoca Partigiana, che rispecchiano fedelmente il susseguirsi di quegli epici eventi. Rilegato nel 1978, con l’aggiunta di materiale dell’epoca e di alcune, brevi, considerazioni finali.» 1978. - Bruschi Augusto, cur. 35 giorni con la “Cremona”: Testimonianze fra cronaca e storia tratte dal diario di Quirino Pucci, fante del 22º Regg.to Fanteria. s.e., s.l., s.d. - Circolo Filatelico «V. Monti» di Alfonsine, cur. Diario storico militare del Gruppo di Combattimento Cremona. Bacchilega Editore, Imola, 2009. - Consulta Comunale per le celebrazioni del 30º anniversario della Resistenza e della Liberazione Umbertide, cur. Rino Pucci : da San Faustino a Po di Primaro. Testimonianze. Supplemento al n. 11 di Quaderni Regione dell’Umbria. Regione dell’Umbria, Perugia, s.d. - Da Lio Nicolò. La guerra non è né bella né comoda : Il Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona” nella guerra di Liberazione 1943-1946. Fondazione Bella Ciao di Ravenna : Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell’Età Contemporanea in Ravenna e Provincia, Ravenna, 2012. - Divisione di Fanteria Cremona. Il Gruppo Cremona nella guerra di Liberazione. Edizioni Tipografia, Roma, 1945. - Ginestri Gianfranco e Janna Carioli. Il canzoniere ribelle dell’Emilia Romagna. Edizioni del Gruppo Free, Bologna, 1967. - Labanca Nicola. «Militari e Resistenza. Le svolte della storiografia». In: I Gruppi di combattimento : Studi, fonti, memorie (1944-1945). A cura di Nicola Labanca. Carocci editore, Roma, 2006. - Mancini Raffaele. A mezzanotte abbiamo scommesso sulla levata del sole: (San Faustino Sud). A cura di Sezioni Anpi e Volontari della Cremona di Umbertide. 2ª. Tipografia Caldari, Umbertide, 1977. / Lettera ad un amico: 25 aprile 1998. A cura di Comune di Umbertide. Tipolito Caldari, Umbertide, 1998. - Mariotti Fabio. «Caduti per la Libertà». In: Umbertide Cronache (1995). Bimestrale del Comune di Umbertide, anno XVIII, n. 1, 1º bimestre. - Mastrobuono Giuseppe. Il Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona” nella guerra di Liberazione. 3ª ed. Centro studi e ricerche storiche sulla guerra di Liberazione, Roma, 2003. - Pierangeli Ricci Mario. Il 22º reggimento fanteria “Cremona” nella guerra di liberazione 1943-1945. Ed. Regionale, Roma, 1947. - Roselletti Achille. “Tebe dalle sette porte, chi la costruì?” Dattiloscritto.1975. NOTE 1. Le unità di supporto al Gruppo furono così definite: 54ª Sezione sanità, 84º Ospedale da campo, 33º Ospedale da campo, 44º Reparto trasporti e rifornimenti, Officine meccaniche, Parco mobile, 94ª Sezione carabinieri, 739ª Sezione carabinieri 2. Arrigo Boldrini, Ravenna 1915 - ivi 2008, nome di battaglia Bulow. È stato comandate partigiano, dirigente del PCI, senatore della Repubblica, Presidente dell’ANPI dalla fondazione al 2006, quando ne divenne Presidente onorario. Decorato con medaglia d’oro al valore militare il 4 febbraio 1945 sulla piazza di Ravenna dal generale Mac Creery, comandante dell’VIII Armata. 3. In Mastrobuono, Il Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona” nella guerra di Liberazione, p. 34, si evidenzia come l’organico avrebbe dovuto essere costituito da 500 ufficiali e 8.500 uomini, mentre “il Gruppo entrò in linea con una deficienza complessiva di 2.500 uomini rispetto all’organico.” 4. Mastrobuono, Op. cit. p. 141 5. Per informazioni sulle complesse condizioni di inserimento dei volontari, si veda Pierangeli Ricci, Il 22º reggimento fanteria “Cremona” nella guerra di liberazione 1943-1945 , cap. V. 6. Uno studio approfondito della situazione e delle iniziative intraprese è riportato in Da Lio, La guerra non è né bella né comoda : Il Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona” nella guerra di Liberazione 1943-1946. 7. Si tratta di una canzone popolare di cui esistono varie versioni. Una – parzialmente diversa da quella qui riportata – è stata pubblicata in Ginestri e Carioli, Il canzoniere ribelle dell’Emilia Romagna. 8. Roselletti, “Tebe dalle sette porte, chi la costruì?”, p. 27 9. Alcuni sono visibili sul sito web “Storia e memoria di Bologna”, http://memoriadibologna . comune.bologna.it/ 10. Bruschi, 35 giorni con la “Cremona”: Testimonianze fra cronaca e storia tratte dal diario di Quirino Pucci, fante del 22º Regg.to Fanteria, s.p., bollettino n. 20. Va per altro sottolineato che Galina fu considerato un volontario: lo vediamo presente in divisa con gli altri Cremonini sia ai funerali di Pucci, Rosati e Starnini, sia alla manifestazione del 1º maggio 1946 11. L’elenco dei Cremonini umbertidesi è stato pubblicato uguale in molte opere: Bruschi, Op. cit., s.p.; Mancini, A mezzanotte abbiamo scommesso sulla levata del sole : (San Faustino Sud), p. 81;, Mariotti, “Caduti per la Libertà”, p. 41. 12. Commissione regionale per il riconoscimento delle qualifiche partigiane, Allegato D n. 37, n. 2333, AsCU, fasc. Elenco partigiani 13. Lettera del 29 novembre 1944, AsCU, 1944, Fasc. VI-1-4 14. Comune di Umbertide, prot. 7099 del 25 ottobre 1945, AsCU, 1945, Fasc. I-5-4 15. Dal 1939 il comune ha assunto la denominazione di Maiolati Spontini 16. Comune di Umbertide, prot. 7462 dell’8 novembre 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. I-5-4 17. Roselletti, Op. cit. p. 10-11 18. Roselletti, Op. cit., p. 13-14 19. Bernardini, “I miei ricordi di guerra : Realizzato nel 1966 a Siena, dopo oltre venti anni, grazie alla conservazione di alcuni appunti dell’epoca Partigiana, che rispecchiano fedelmente il susseguirsi di quegli epici eventi. Rilegato nel 1978, con l’aggiunta di materiale dell’epoca e di alcune, brevi, considerazioni finali.”, p. 28. Fernando Bernardini, (Umbertide, 1925 - Siena, 1998), nome di battaglia Libertas, tenente, commissario di battaglione, croce al merito di guerra, cittadino onorario di Vittorio Veneto, ha combattuto nelle file della Brigata Cacciatori delle Alpi, Divisione d’assalto Garibaldi “Nino Nannetti” nella zona del Pian del Cansiglio (tra Veneto e Friuli-Venezia Giulia). 20. Si veda Mancini, Lettera ad un amico: 25 aprile 1998 21. Id., p. 11 22. Soprannome di Alfredo Bargelli 23. Id., p. 13 24. Le ricompense al Valor Militare sono assegnate per segnalare come degni di pubblico onore gli autori di atti di eroismo militare. La Croce di Guerra al Valor Militare è assegnata solo in caso di conflitto. 25. La Croce al Merito di Guerra è concessa a tutti i partecipanti ad un evento bellico. C’è da dire che non tutti quelli che ne avrebbero avuto diritto l’hanno effettivamente ricevuta. Del tutto analoga è l’assegnazione del Distintivo della Guerra di Liberazione. 26. Rubrica dei fogli matricolari, vari anni e matricole, AdSPG 27. Mastrobuono, Op. cit., p. 173 e p. 178 28 . Giuseppe Starnini, arruolato nel Gruppo di combattimento “Legnano”, morì il 30 aprile 1945 in seguito alle ferite riportate in battaglia nei pressi di Bologna. È stato decorato con la Medaglia d’Argento al Valore Militare e, su proposta del generale Utili comandante della Divisione “Legnano”, con la “Croce commemorativa di Montecassino”, onorificenza concessa dal Presidente della Repubblica Polacca (Comando 68º Reggimento Fanteria “Legnano”, prot. n. 1945/Op. del 7 giugno 1946, AsCU, 1946, fasc. I-2-2). 29. Comune di Umbertide, prot. n. 3096 del 16 maggio 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. VIII-2-2 30 . Prefettura di Perugia, prot. San 26108 del 2 ottobre 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. IV-6-3 31. Comune di Umbertide, prot. 7830 del 29 novembre 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. IV-6-3 32. Roselletti, Op. cit., p. 12-13 33. In realtà quello di Mezzeno, frazione di Ravenna. 34. Oltre al Cremona, esistevano i Gruppi di combattimento Friuli, Legnano e Folgore. 35. Divisione di Fanteria Cremona, Il Gruppo Cremona nella guerra di Liberazione 36. Bruschi, Op. cit., s.p., bollettino n. 21 37. Pierangeli Ricci, Op. cit., p. 87 38. Mancini 1977, Op. cit., p. 85 39. Lettera prot. 7875 del 9 settembre 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. IX-4-1 40. Documento prot. 7837 del 29 novembre 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. II-4-4 41. Verbale n. 1 del 5 maggio 1945 della Società sportiva Tiberis, AsCU, 1945, fasc. VI-2-3 42. Documento prot. n. 4740 del 25 luglio 1945, AsCU, fasc. III-4-3 43. Comune di Umbertide, prot. n. del 27 luglio 1945, AsCU, 1945, fasc. III-4-3 GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRATTA curated by Fabio Mariotti THE CASTLE OF FRATTA The castle within the walls was divided into three areas: the Terziere Inferiore , the Terziere di Mezzo , the Terziere Superiore which included the northern part of the castle (Rocca, north-west bulwark and was also called Terziere della Campana). The Terziere di Mezzo included the part towards the Tiber, the houses in front of the church of San Giovanni, the central square (square of the Marquis of Sorbello), the northern part of the Vicolo delle Petresche with the hospice of the Capuchin Fathers of Montone behind it, the part north of the middle road near the central square. It was also known as Terziere della Greppa. The lower Terziere (or Terziere della porta di sotto, also known as the door of the slaughterhouse) included the area around the southwestern bulwark, the southern part of the via delle Petresche (via Spunta current), the via regale (or straight, via Cibo), of the middle road and the San Giovanni road that led to the church of the same name. The castle walls In 1736 the Tiber, with its floods, ruined the central part of the west curtain and destroyed four houses built on that point of the walls. The budget of the defenders of Fratta amounted to 1,032 scudi. Wanting to hasten the reconstruction, they asked Clement XII for a subsidy and the pope replied that he would give five hundred scudi, however, when Fratta proved that he had found the rest. The defenders were able in a short time to find their part but, seeing that that promise from the pope did not arrive, they began to buy the timber for the armor, the bricks and the lime and entrusted the work to the master builder Bartolomeo Ferranti of Rome. They took action on September 15, 1739, but the pope had not yet paid the promised subsidy at the end of the year. The defenders gave the task to a Mariotti, a Frattegiano resident in Rome, and he replied that Clement XII was very ill and that the defenders of Fratta had to work hard to get the five hundred scudi. He adds that if the pope had died, it would have been much more difficult to obtain them. It is not known when the work was finished, but it was certainly done very quickly as winter approached. A plaque was affixed to the wall with the inscription "Clem XII Pont Max MDCCXXIYIX.", Which can still be seen about fifty meters before the bridge. The Tiber It had a different trend from the current one and was dangerous for two reasons: - the current was perpendicular to the road that led to the Niccone valley and to Città di Castello, even then of great communication, so it could have been cut. By 1758 he had come fifteen meters from the road and was threatening to cut it off. - if this had happened, the bridge would have remained dry, with evident damage to the town and with serious compromise of activities such as military defense, weir, mills, gardens, public wash house, sewage disposal. Work was done, using many large poles. In 1726 the bridge of the Reggia was consolidated, over which all the traffic, even heavy traffic, passed from Santa Maria to the church of the Madonna della Reggia and to San Francesco and Montone. The bridge was made of wood, except for the two brick ends and in 1770 the judiciary of Fratta decided to enlarge it. In 1787 the municipality incurred an expense to cover the top of the Rocca. The roof of the tower is rebuilt. The villages adjacent to the Castle The Borgo Superiore It is located north of the castle within the walls and includes the Castel Nuovo (formed by the two streets of the Boccaiolo and the one that leads from the Piaggiola to the market gate), the "Mercatale di Sant'Erasmo" (today's Piazza Marconi), the area of furnaces and the church of Santa Maria della Pietà. Palazzo Ranieri Owned by Count Curtio Ranieri, son of Costantino, it was in the Piaggiola road. In 1756 the count enlarged it. In front there was a public well (the widening that forms between the end of the Piaggiola and the Boccaiolo road) called the well of Sant'Agostino, near the church of the same name. Mill of the Fathers of San Bernardo (Castel Nuovo) It is located along the small road (now called del Molinaccio) which leads from the end of the Piaggiola to the Tiber. It was close to the castle walls and belonged to the Fathers of San Bernardo or Barnabiti. These had two small convents, one in Fratta and one in Migianella. In the Borgo Superiore there are still two tower-houses, one in the Mercatale area and another at the Porta del Boccaiolo. They consist of a bottom below and a room above. They were built for peasant use. The Lower Village It is also called "le Fabbrecce" because there are blacksmith shops and in the mill outside the Borgo, the scythes were rounded (as in the fourteenth century! Nothing had changed). It included the area of the street that led from the bridge of the Reggia to Piazza San Francesco, the Via di Santa Croce (now Via Soli) and the area outside the Borgo gate. At the beginning of the century, the road that began outside the San Francesco gate and led towards the Madonna del Moro was called the Caminella road; then strada del Piano (during the French occupation at the end of the century, strada Consolare del Piano); at the beginning of the twentieth century via Secoli. Along Santa Croce there was the Osteria della Corona, owned by Count Ranieri. The square was already called Piazza San Francesco. It changed its name later to go back to that name. Roads In 1790 work was carried out on the road to Montone, in the section under the convent of the Observant Friars of Santa Maria. The width is eight feet, like all the other roads leading to Fratta, the bracing of which is redone every year. The doors In 1788 an arm wrestling was put on the Porta della Saracina (there was still this mighty tower at the beginning of the bridge). Other works were done on the door of the market and that of the nuns. In 1790 the door of the Saracina is set up. In 1792 it was the turn of the bridge and work was done to lower the door to the market. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). South-west bulwark of defense The plaque on the walls dedicated to Pope Clement XII The ancient houses on the Tiber. In the red circle the headstone - On the left, cadastral map of Fratta from the mid-1700s - Above, map of the medieval Fratta with the castle doors The cover of the 2001 Umbertide Calendar The historian Renato Codovini Il Castello di Fratta Il modo di vivere, di morire, la solidarietà e gli svaghi La chiesa di Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio Il Castello di Fratta Le chiese minori di Fratta e i proietti L'Amministrazione e la Pubblica Sicurezza Gli appalti e le proprietà pubbliche Agricoltura, Commercio, Mestieri e Istruzione Il Tevere, i ponti, le mura del Castello Il sistema elettorale comunale L'Amministrazione e la Pubblica Sicurezza ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC SECURITY The municipal administration In the eighteenth century the public administration of Fratta has two different offices. From 1700 to 1787 the building located in today's Piazza Fortebracci, formerly the seat of the convent of Santa Maria di Castelvecchio (current seat of the Riuniti theater). From 1787 to 1799 in the palace of Castel Nuovo, formerly the seat of the convent of Santa Maria Nuova, suppressed in 1787. There are three administrative bodies: the judiciary, the council of twelve and the general council (or 42). The judiciary is made up of the four defenders, also called "priors" or simply "the magistrates". Once elected, they met and nominated the "chief magistrate" or "first prior". Person of great importance in social life, he came from the "first class". The election of the council was made between only two classes, the primary people of the place, civilians and landowners and the artists (craftsmen). The former are destined to obtain the rank of head of magistrate, the office of public chamberlain and the harangue of the council. The second the other three parts of the judiciary: the second, third and fourth prior who are distributed by seniority. The council of twelve met for decisions of greater importance, when they wanted to be sure that there would be no opposition to what was to be established. It was made up of the four defenders, the four counselors of the defenders, the three health conservatives and the chamberlain. He could not impose new taxes, vary the prices of abundance, discuss quarrels between citizens and the public administration, make decisions about wars, invasions, earthquakes, plagues. He was summoned by ringing the big bell with twelve taps. The council of 42 was the general council, that is the council of the twelve, increased by the representatives of the classes that had the right to be part of it and by the exponents of the major villas (hamlets). Organs: - Councilors (municipal). People who made up the two municipal councils (12 and 42). They were partially renewable, one third at a time, always removing the oldest ones. They belonged to the first and second classes. In 1798, following the French occupation, women were appointed municipal councilors for the first time. Three in Fratta and one in Preggio. - Defenders. There were four of them and they remained in office for four months. They were elected by means of a "bussolo" vote, but they did not receive any salary since theirs were an honorary office. Only at the end of the mandate were they compensated with a small sum as a gift, not exceeding one and a half shields. - Counsel for the defenders . There were four of them and each "on the sidelines" of a defender (or prior), to whom he gave advice. almost like today's personal secretary. They were chosen from among those who had been defender in the previous quarter, assuming that he had acquired some experience in the affairs of comitative government. - Gonfaloniere. First prior and head of the judiciary, he was called so only at the beginning of the restoration, after the end of the Roman republic. in August 1799. - Consular prefect of Fratta. Office of the French administration, reporting directly to the prefect of the canton of Fratta. He was the head of the commune of Fratta and also "president of the commune". - Prefect of the canton. Figure established in the last decade of the century, when there was the French invasion. The prefect was responsible for everything that took place in our canton, including the municipality of Preggio and Poggio Manente (San Paterniano) as well as Fratta. Employees and officials: - Archivist. Usually a notary. He drew up acts for the municipality but also for the citizens. - Balio. He was in charge of liaising between the judiciary and other community bodies and private citizens. He took four scudi a four-month period. - Camerlengo. Collection and payment clerk. He did not take any premium on the collection as he received a normal salary. - Chancellor. He had more or less the functions of today's municipal secretary. His office was called "chancellery" or "priority secretariat". - Commissioner and judge. Public official appointed by Perugia. His main task was to enforce the law and punish the guilty, but in the most difficult, delicate and controversial cases he had the order to send the guilty to Perugia subjecting them to the examination of the higher court. - Conservatives of health. Three people who remained in office for two years and had to belong to the first sphere, that is, to the first class. They spoke to the city council when called and their job was to give an opinion on what was being discussed in the meeting. - Donzello. Clerk to all minor duties, he had the lowest salary paid by the administration to an employee. - School teacher. His salary was paid partly by the municipal administration, partly by the parents of the children and another by the brotherhood of Santa Croce. - Doctor led. He was also paid by the municipality. - Moderator of the public watch . Supervisor, maintenance, loading and various checks of the public clock. - Portinari. Surveillance of the gates of the town who opened every morning and closed in the evening at about "two hours at night". - Preacher. Ecclesiastical, priest or friar, about three times a year he preached in the churches of the town. He stayed in Fratta for a few days, staying in a convent. - Praetor. Charge born at the time of the French invasion. - Commissioner. Charge that arose at the time of the French invasion. He kept the books of the canton's administration. - Scribe. Person in charge of copying documents, letters, reports of board meetings, etc. - Sindicators. We find this use in the first half of the century. The mayors controlled the community accounts and remained in office for one year. - Letter dealer. He was the postmaster, also hired by the municipality. - Public appraisers. We find them in the first half of the century. They were people responsible for estimating properties or various activities both for the interest of the municipality and for private citizens. They remained in office for a year. - Community representatives in Perugia and Rome. People involved in unraveling community affairs in these cities. Being well established in state offices, they had practice in public administration and were known by various employees. Management of the Municipality Revenue for taxes There were the chamber tax, the municipal tax, the privileged and fair tax, the allotment of the ground coffee. The community of Fratta imposed them on the population and then calculated its percentage on the sum; the remainder was sent to Perugia. The chamber tax was requested by the reverend Apostolic Chamber of Perugia, which kept a small sum and sent the rest to the central government of Rome. The privileged and fair tax related to the various privileges that the city of Perugia granted to its dependent communities. The ground tax concerned everything that was brought to the mill and was the most detested by the peasants. Then there was the focatico tax. It hit all the "fires", that is, the hearths, the families. It remained until the 1960s under the name of "family tax". In 1706 only eleven families paid for it; in 1728, fifty-seven. The "property tax" hit the owners of houses and land. In addition, there was the "undressing and jail tax". By "bare" was meant unnecessary clothing and by "galleys" a tax intended to strengthen the state's navy. Finally, there were other occasional taxes, such as the "tax on the million", introduced in 1713 by the papal government which needed as many scudi. Revenue for procurement They were preferred by the municipalities as they were easy to manage and made it possible to collect the maximum on set dates. The contracts were made known by posting a notice outside the door of the town hall: on the appointed day, the "piper" would station himself in certain points of the town, sound the trumpet and let people know the time and place of the competition. Which took place with the "virgin candle" method every three years. Procurement of the oven. Granted in 1710 to Ercolano Fanfani. It ensured the production of bread for the whole country. Wage contract. The prerogative of distributing the salt belonged to Perugia, which gave it out to the various communities. Fratta, in order to get the necessary, had to go and pick it up in Perugia or, when there was none in the warehouse, in some town on the sea road: Fossombrone, Fabriano, Jesi, Ancona. Contract of the oil shop and grocery store. It consisted in granting a contractor the service of selling edible oil and kinds of delicatessens in the municipal shop, at the prices established by the municipality and written prominently on a sign. Procurement of the land stamp. Those who wanted to occupy a part of the public land (for example street vendors) had to pay a certain fee. Procurement of the meat stamp. The "butchers" of Fratta had to "skin" the animals in the public slaughterhouse. After removing the skin (which was used for the sole of the shoes) they cut the animal and the pieces were stamped by the "meat boiler". The operation served to make it clear to those who bought which was ox and cow, calf, sheep or mutton. The "bollatore delle carne" made the butchers pay the stamp, then paid the municipality, in two or three installments, as established. Public procurement slaughterhouse. Whoever won the tender sold the meat in this shop for two or three years by paying the agreed sum, in half-yearly installments, to the municipality which had the purpose of keeping prices calm to favor the poorest population. Contract for damage given and deposit of pledges. The depositary of the "damage given" was assigned to the surveillance of public goods, movable or immovable, he noted, in his interest, the damage caused by citizens to public goods, brought these facts before the judge and commissioner. This was also joined by the contract for the "depository of the pawns" , that is the office that advanced money to whoever deposited a pledge. Procurement of measures. The possibility of having large quantities of goods weighed was the prerogative of the Noble College of Exchange of Perugia. The operation took place with a large scale, publicly owned, called "the big steelyard". Procurement of firewood. Those who intended to bring firewood into the village had to pay a right in money to the municipality. Who contracted the collection to a private citizen. Procurement of the foietta. The right to tax the sale of wine "al menuto", ie sold by glasses or foiette, was also contracted out by the municipality to third parties. Procurement of the cenciarìa. He charged the collection of rags. The contractor collected a fee from those who collected the rags and was also a collector. Contract for the pen . Collection of the excrements of the animals that passed through the country, assigned by means of a contract to the one who offered the highest price. Tiber wood tender. It used trunks and branches that were deposited under the bridge after the floods. Tiber fishing contract . It struck those who wanted to fish in the stretch of river under the jurisdiction of the municipality, that is, upstream of the bridge. Expenses The municipal administration of Fratta divided the expenses into "recurring expenses", "Occasional outgoings and expenses", "various gratifications". The "recurring outings" yes they distinguished in outputs for the achievement of the purposes of the institution and for alms. Among the former, the main item is the payment of employees and employees of each degree. A recurring exit was the seasonal arrangement of the roads which, both in the country and outside, they had to be bridged every November. Another expense was the annual cleaning of sewers, wells and fountains. It does not seem strange to consider among the recurring expenses also those "for alms", because at the time the municipality used to give money to some brotherhoods for the patronal feasts of Sant'Erasmo, San Bernardino and SSma Annunziata. He also bought wax (candles), "powder" (for the barrels), oil for lighting and other useful things in the processions. At Christmas and Easter the municipality also used to give gifts: to the representatives of the community in Rome gave two capons; to the four defenders, at the end of the mandate quarterly, two scudi. The "occasional expenses" were used, for example, to repair municipal-owned houses and farms, roads, bridges, town gates, to pay interest liabilities on debts, cops' living expenses. All those rewards, finally, that the It was common to give the refreshments offered in the form of gifts and tips to distinguished visitors to guests (for example for the arrival of the bishop), gifts to the commanders of the foreign troops of passage so that they did not do too much damage, donations to the convents. Public safety While the public administration was delegated, in Fratta, to the judiciary and to the municipal councils, in the eighteenth century public security was strictly the responsibility of the commissioner, who was appointed decenviral (that is, of the Perugian judiciary). The commissioner and ordinary judge, in this double capacity, had in his first role the competence over the public safety of the whole territory and the investigating power given to him by the Perugian executive. On the basis of this power, it resolved all issues relating to public order that arose in a territory of about five or six thousand inhabitants (Fratta and hamlets), up to the arrest of those responsible. For certain crimes he sent the guilty to Perugia, to his superior judicial body or criminal office, as it was then called. In the event of minor disputes (those which today, for example, are the responsibility of the justice of the peace) he invited the parties to go to a notary and in his presence formulate a "peace act" between them. In case of crimes of greater gravity (usually acts of banditry), where the powers and possibilities of the commissioner proved powerless, he asked Perugia to send one or more teams of cops. They, with the force of arms, were able to put an end to those emergency situations and to restore the normality of life, bringing the offenders to Perugia. In the village the behavior of the cops was rather heavy and savage and the population paid the price, but this was well tolerated by the "good government" for which the fear that they knew how to instill in the people was obviously convenient, as it facilitated their way to act. The cops also came in times of epidemic diseases and if there was to fight the bands of brigands. In these cases they also went to guard the border areas and blocked the road with large iron gates to prevent transit in both directions. During their passage they stayed at the Osteria della Corona where they could stay for several days, but they were always frowned upon by the population as they committed abuses of all kinds and even harassed the hosts and their families. The Count of Civitella, who owned it, decided for these reasons to close not only this tavern to the public but also the one located in the San Giovanni street. It is the first case of "lockout" of an exercise. The municipality then bought a house to be used for housing the cops when they came to Fratta. It was bought in 1770, in via di San Giovanni and became the office and residence of the commissioner-judge. In this way it was possible to free the two rooms of the town hall which had already been used for this purpose for several years. Security problems also arose at the time of French domination, due to the harassment carried out by those troops. The commissioner-judge could not move as he wanted in these situations: the military occupation had effectively nullified many of his possibilities. In May 1798, for example, the French soldiers of General La Vallette, coming from Città di Castello, committed various abuses, including the destruction of furniture and books from the convent of San Francesco. It is due to such vandalism that nothing has remained on the life of our convents whose friars had come to Fratta in the last decade of the 13th century. In December 1785 the central government of Rome forbids all games in taverns and taverns. In 1788 soldiers were sent to Fratta to oppose a gang of criminals. In 1791 it was necessary to arm other soldiers, in the face of new raids by brigands who escaped, in July, from the Macerata prison and considered very dangerous by the government which had made prizes available to those who had captured them. A great scourge of time was that of collecting grains, which were then sold outside the kingdom. To put an end to this illicit trade, the municipality issues a notification against the "grabbers of wheat products". On August 13, 1795, a decree tends to limit the underworld of our province by forbidding those who go to the Monteluce fair from carrying weapons. In 1788 an ordinance was issued against "wounders and those who insult in the streets, with or without weapons". On 26 March 1797 two companies of the Colonna regiment pass through Fratta, the Vespiccini company and the Colonnello company. On June 26, Corsican soldiers "fled from Faenza due to the French invasion, commending themselves to the mercy of this public". He is fed. On February 2, 1798, carriages from Cisalpini pass. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Today Teatro dei Riuniti, from 1700 to 1787 seat of the Municipality of Umbertide The town hall in the early 1900s Old photo of the church of S. Bernardino Ancient image of the Castle of Civitella di Civitella Ranieri THE WAY OF LIVING, OF DYING, SOLIDARITY AND LEISURE The way of life At the beginning of the eighteenth century most of the people of Fratta struggled in misery. The few owners (and this throughout the Papal State) had a good game to keep wages low, given the large supply of labor, fed by many poor people looking for work. There were other elements to burden this picture: the frequent famines, the extraordinary taxes to compensate for the various flaws in the central administration, the devaluations of the currency to fill the sudden cash gaps. The people were totally subject to higher taxes. He didn't feel the need to rebel, but he certainly felt the weight of it. The entertainment The Frattegiani's opportunities for recreation and distractions were not many and all more or less orchestrated from above. The theater, as the local academics society had a certain activity; patronal and religious festivals in general; the public joy in the cases of the most sumptuous marriages and in the passage through Fratta of the cardinal protector; the festivities in the immediate surroundings of the town. They could lock themselves up to play in the Osteria della Corona or in that of the Staffa but, above all, they had the greatest set of distractions and entertainment during the carnival period. It began on the day of Saint Anthony and ended on the "fat Saturday" with the midnight dinner, called "la sabatina", made up of fatty foods. Weddings They were characterized by three moments: the private policy, the notarial deed, the ceremony in the church. With the private policy, the families established the economic conditions under which they would allow the marriage of their children. The parties then went to the "notary", together with the witnesses, to ratify the agreement. Finally, the ceremony followed, celebrated "according to the rite of the Holy Roman Church", preceded by a public "denunciation". The marriage was registered by the priest in the special book which, in 1741, had the five baiocchi stamp of the reverend Apostolic Chamber. The processions They all had a religious character and there were no civil processions or parades. Their development was linked to the many festivals of the time; then there were others that originated from contingent events (rain, earthquake, disease, etc.). In the seventeenth century they were still called with the old medieval name of "lumi", for which going in procession was said to "go to the light" (taking place almost always in the evening, there was a great display of lights, with candles, "fàcole" of pitch , oil lights). They were planned a few days earlier by a certain fraternity which appointed a group of five or six brothers who were entitled to the honor of the organization. These were called "above" and had the task of looking for the necessary money in the "begging" done in the countryside or in the streets and squares of the town, especially on market or fair days. Elements common to all the processions were the presence of (lay) companies and (religious) congregations with their brothers, closed in their cloaks of different colors and shapes. The representatives of the community for the occasion wore the ceremonial dress (the purple rubbone), while the soldiers, often Corsican mercenaries, came specially from Perugia. Another element was the "machine", that is the large wooden scaffolding equipped with two large and long poles which served to support the statue of the saint for whom the procession was made and which was carried on the shoulder. Finally, the banners of religious and secular associations among which wooden sticks with cloth and fringes sprouted, carried by the sacristans of the churches, in the midst of a cloud of smoke, smells and sizzles of burning pitch released from the many "fàcole", candles, lights and a burst of barrels that framed that whole. In the end, those who had intervened wearing the "hood" were given food consisting of bread, cakes, torcoli, wine, the distribution of which often gave rise to "abuses and dishonesty" and several times the bishops of Gubbio suspended "the brothers' tycoon that go in procession ", and replaced it with distribution of candles. But given a certain rarefaction of the people in tow, everything returned as before. Parties and sweets In the eighteenth century there were about twenty feasts a year and they all had the common and main component of religiosity. The banners of the art corporations, religious fraternities (or companies), congregations (only priests) intervened together with that of the community of Fratta. These associations, together with the municipality, thought of the decorations, both of the town and of the churches. They were made with great pomp, of the drapery type (the "drapoloni"), of silk or damask, as well as they could consist of light weaves (structures) of wood or light metal, of various designs, covered with fabrics or flowers ( even fake), ribbons and lace at will. It was possible then, but only on major occasions, to the construction of real triumphal arches for the streets and gates of the town. Among the characteristic festivals there was the "flower festival of May", promoted by the company of Sant'Antonio. On such occasions, in the organizing church, there was always a "choir of musicians" and singers. On 8 September 1795, for the feast, the famous Frattegiano singer Domenico Bruni arrived in the church of San Francesco, passing through one of his numerous artistic tours that he sang among the amateurs of the town, without any compensation. In the evening, the houses were lit with candles in the windows and everyone waited for the climax of the "barrels and rays". The costume In the eighteenth century the "sumptuary laws" of the seventeenth century on the way of dressing were in force in the Roman ecclesiastical kingdom, which forbade citizens (not the rich) certain luxurious ways, discriminating and further distancing the various social classes. In 1703 Pope Clement XI issued an edict in which he ordered low-status women to renounce any adornment, imposing the use of ordinary fabrics and non-violent colors. It was then forbidden to those of the people and petty bourgeois (edict of Clement XII in 1730) to put gold and silver trimmings on headdresses, fabrics and ornaments. The way to die In the parish books we find various "systems" to pass on to a better life. In 1715, with a touch of romanticism, - "... died at 10 pm on the moon ...". There are also descriptions of violent deaths, such as "... assaulted by two brothers, one of whom took his gun and shot him in the chest and so wounded he fled the Tiber on the boat of Ascagnano". In 1740, for a woman who throws herself into the Tiber "... At other times she had done other wisdom". A woman dies "from a serious fall made on the precipitous stairs of her house". Another, certain "Francesca di Brizio found in the house all burned with the exception of the head". Then there are death records and testamentary dispositions which show the religious sentiment of the people. Sant'Antonio da Padova enjoyed a certain cult in our country, so much so that he had his own altar in the church of the Compagnia del Soccorso, in the monastery of Santa Maria Nuova. In 1722 a Frattegiana told the notary "I want to be buried at the altar of St. Anthony of Padua, my lawyer and protector dressed in the habit of St. Anthony ...". In another testament of 1794 we find instead the extreme will of a sinner (or presumed such). He explains how his funeral must take place: "... from the house where I live my body is to be taken directly to the church without any turn of the streets and this in order not to remind the public of the scandals given in my life. When it reaches the church it is immediately buried without to expose the corpse of such a great sinner to the public's view, without wax, or music, or other similar things that vanity has been able to invent ". Funerals and burials The dead person, after having received, sooner or later, the visit of his parish priest for the absolution and registration of the death in the parish books, remains entrusted to the relatives and is stripped, washed, then wrapped in a sheet, ready for the funeral (or fùnere, as it was said then). That was the responsibility of the parish priest of the parish to which the dead man belonged and, if he was in a company or in a congregation, the association sent its own representation of brothers dressed in "hoods". The dead man was placed on top of the bier, with the top layer covering him, then carried on the shoulder to the church. Often the testator, among other things, indicated the place of burial. In fact, the dead were buried in the rear part (cemetery) of the church, but some were placed in existing mounds under the floor. There was therefore a distinction between outside, where the poorest were buried, and inside, where the brothers of the lay companies and the wealthy were placed (noble sepulchres), while the truly rich had their chapel. The noble tombs, for the rich, were obtained in front of the altars (even the main one) or on the sides of the same. In the entombment, the simple burial of the corpse wrapped in a sheet was carried out. The box was used only exceptionally, when it was a person who had acquired a great human value in life, or for the rich or for those who died outside the country and whose body had to be brought back to Fratta, transported on the wagon to horses. The burial in consecrated land was conditional on the fact that the dying person had first confessed and communicated, with the exception of those who had died suddenly. In the latter case it was the priest who ascertained whether the deceased had confessed some time before and, in any case, had always lived as a good Christian. The unconsecrated land was near the church cemeteries. Solidarity Wheat mountain It was commissioned by Don Giuliano Bovicelli di Fratta, a priest in Rome where he held the office of secretary to Cardinal Sacripante. Bovicelli, in the year 1715, donated the sum of one hundred scudi to the brotherhood of San Bernardino, of which he was a brother, with whom "... he wanted and longed for a mountain of wheat to be created in order to buy grain for the poorest population ". The brotherhood immediately bought two hundred wheat "stands" and started this institution. The wheat mountain stored grain for harvest and then gave it free to the poorest during the winter and spring, when it was difficult to find it. After the legal institution of 17191a confraternity began looking for a suitable seat where to arrange both the grain and the administrative office of the mountain. He succeeded only many years later, in 1764, when he bought a small house owned by the company of the Most Holy Sacrament in the central square, called "del Marchese" (Piazza Matteotti). The pawnshop Poor people who needed small loans of money turned to it and brought their little things as collateral, that is, movable goods of all kinds. For this service the municipality requested a sum to be calculated as a percentage. This was truly negligible, that is, much less than what would have been paid by resorting to the loan of the Jews, then present in Fratta, whose interest rates were much higher. The community of Fratta was authorized to manage this institution by the municipality of Perugia, from which it had contracted it out and to which it had to pay a sum. annual. The municipality could therefore manage it on its own but could also subcontract it, as it did in the year 1748 when the Monte was sold under contract to Ubaldo Moretti di Fratta. Free study The community of Fratta could send "two young people to the Episcopal Seminary of Gubbio every year, to remain free there, as long as they have the necessary requisites and are suitable to set out on the Ecclesiastical Way". Assistance to the "exposed" The "exposed" were newborns abandoned at the door of churches or hospitals, sent by the community to the hospital of Santa Maria della Misericordia in Perugia. Here many foundlings die because the nannies cannot be paid. Those who take babies to breastfeed them "... Also have five or six in the chest", so nourishment is scarce and deaths are many. Before 1739 the external nurses received a "dirty" grain mine a year, too little for Cardinal Martino Enrico Caracciolo, apostolic visitor in that year to Perugia, who assigns each six paoli a month, plus a shield, a tantum, after the eighteenth month. These children went around with a tag attached to their neck to indicate the date of baptism and the name. Gifts for spinsters In the eighteenth century some local brotherhoods, including that of Santa Croce which was the richest, bestowed a dowry on a spinster. In this way, girls who had to marry but who could not afford the necessary expenses were helped in this way since 1612. The dowry, one a year, was granted upon written request to spinsters born in the village (such as their parents), attaching a certificate from the parish priest who attested to both the birth, the age and the patronage of these girls. The brotherhood then chose a certain and limited number of girls and subjected them to an examination. The vinciti-ice could have the dowry only if and when he got married. There was also a deadline, which was 35 years; if the girl did not marry by this age, the brotherhood would take back the dowry. Another reason why the dowry was denied was that the girl, before marrying, did not live honestly. The entertainment Theater Already in the seventeenth century an association of theatrical art lovers was operating in Fratta called "Accademia degli Inestabili". In 1746 it had to proceed with its reorganization, which suggests that it was in a strongly negative phase. On the other hand, public and private music teaching was very active. In particular in the oratories, where the youth met for religious representations, with singing and instrumental schools linked to the various religious functions of the feast days. The Fratta theater was located since 1746 in the town hall, in today's Piazza Fortebracci. On the first floor there were some offices and the council meeting room which was given to the "unstoppable academics" for their performances. It had two "lodges" which probably served for municipal councilors, but were open to the public for the theater. You entered via a stone staircase placed outside. In 1770 it was still in the hall on the first floor of the town hall but this room was by now insufficient for the activity of academics. They therefore decided to expand it and asked for two adjacent rooms that served as the office of the commissioner and judge as well as for the passing cops. In 1746 we know that they wanted to reconstitute a theatrical association on a different basis from the old one: perhaps the "unstable academics" had dissolved, in whole or in part, towards the end of the 17th century. In the mid-eighteenth century the members of the "Accademia degli Inestabili" were eleven, from the main families of the town, such as the Fabbri, the Francesconi, the Burelli, but then the number grew and other illustrious personalities took part, such as Dr. Prospero Mariotti, his son Annibale and doctor Giulio Fracassini. The academy had a coat of arms formed by a noble shield where a hand was drawn. He held three gold cords intertwined together that ended with leads like a small tassel and, all around, the motto "Difficile solvitur" (it will hardly melt). Outside the theatrical season (ie outside the carnival), the amateur dramatists of the country acted instead, who were mostly the academics themselves and the members of their families. The plays were performed to train young people in stage disciplines rather than to give entertainment to the population. In the mid-eighteenth century, dramatic companies of a nomadic nature were a rarity and the first came to play in Fratta in 1748. It was the company of Giovanni Gazzola, a professional "histrionist artist" who, after many difficulties in obtaining authorization, was able to delight the Frattegiani with the affected parts of Pulcinella, Brighella and Doctor Belanza. Our theater closed, like everyone else in the Roman kingdom, from 1791 to 1795 by order of Pope Pius IV, due to the political events of the time, centered on the invasion of Italy by the French army. It was then reopened with the works "The guilty woman" and "The corsair of Marseille", where that "corsair" must have been a clear reference to the work of Napoleon, the most interesting character in the political scene of the time. The theater was granted on request for dance parties, elementary school work, occasions in which the best children were rewarded. Sometimes it was then granted for the game of bingo, introduced in Perugino in 1796. In the first months of 1798 the "Viva Maria" movement arose. In mid-February Fratta was invaded by these rioters who did various damages to municipal and private property, tampered with the theater and dispersed the administration documents. Free time In 1730, the "ox hunt", or "fence game", a sort of bullfight between oxen and dogs in a town square, usually San Francesco. In 1760 we have news that hunting was practiced in the months of September and October, the so-called "birding" (with the net). In 1794 the game of the "ball" or "ball" appears in Piazza San Francesco. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Il modo di vivere, di morire, la solidarietà e gli svaghi Procession of the Madonna - late 1950s. (Corradi photographic archive) The facade of the church of San Francesco The opera singer Domenico Bruni Piazza Umberto I (now Matteotti) in the early 1900s. (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide). In 1700 it was smaller and was called piazza del Marchese. Annibale Mariotti Giuliano Bovicelli AGRICULTURE, TRADE, TRADES AND EDUCATION Agriculture In 1700 the permanent settlement in the countryside was much safer than in previous centuries and the construction of farmhouses was no longer based on the tower-house system, the house with a minimum surface area but developed in height, suitable for housing and also for defense. of the peasant and his household goods. Now the type of house developed on a flat level is adopted, with a greater base, lower height, overall higher airspace. It has a ground floor used for agricultural management and a first floor for the farmer's home. The land could be "arable", "canapinato", "cerquato", "gineprato", "gengato", "working", "olivato", "ortivo", "pergola", "grass", "sodivo", "fucato" "," Vlneat0 "," silvato "," boschivo "(or" buscato "). The "cerquato" land was held in great esteem because the oak was even considered a fruit plant due to the great need for acorns that were used for pigs but, at times, in cases of great famine, they were reduced to flour as an aid to feeding. Human. There was a dominance of the pergola over the vineyard, a fair extension of the olive grove and the presence of the "canapinato" in the places richest in water. The extension of the land was measured in the capacity (rubbia, mina, stara, cup) of seeds necessary to cover the ground. The owners are very few. We find noble families such as Ranieri, Degli Oddi, Bourbon di Sorbello, Florenzi, Antinori, Crescenzi, Zeccadoro who had lands in Fratta but resided elsewhere, for which they did not pay taxes. There were resident families, also very rich: Alberti, Albanesi, Bertanzi, Bruni, Agostini, Burelli, Gnoni, Fracassini, Guardabassi, Magnanini, Paolucci, Petrogalli, Reggiani, Vibi, Cambiotti, Cibo, Mavarelli, Ramaccioni, Montanucci, Falici , Bartoccini. The leases were of two kinds: a temporary type, stipulated for three, six and nine years and the type called "emphyteusis" which usually covered a period of three generations. These were the most used but there were some valid for a single "riculture", that is, for a single crop or a single agricultural year. There are three parties to the dispute, even if only two stipulators, namely the owner of the land and the tenant who makes the peasants work the land, excluded from the negotiation. The owner had to allow the tenant to have the peasant's family members live in the farmhouse; he had to give vines and olive trees to be planted in the year. If he did not provide them, the tenant was released from the "planting" obligation and the owner could not oblige him the following year. The tenant was required to keep the plants found in the delivery inventory, he could send the farmers away at his will and pleasure. It was up to him to pay, in addition to the rent, the duties, the gabelles, the chamber's taxes. He had to leave the sown land as he had found it at his entrance; he had to return the barrels but be careful "that they are of good smell and without any vice, as he receives them". At the end of the rent, the pigs and the large cattle were given back according to the estimate; the sheep and goat cattle were made at the head. The farmer had to sow wheat and fodder with his own seed, prune and undermine young and old trees, plant a certain number of vines and olive trees every year with the system of formoni and that of single holes. Do not cut fruit trees, only lumber that has died from the fire. He had to take part of the land product to the master's house and for this he was paid in kind or in foodstuffs. The must was divided in half. At Easter he had to give a certain quantity of eggs and "pancasciato"; he had to give gifts and obligations in chickens and eggs. In the eighteenth century there was no "colonial pact" specified and imposed by law as will happen later, but only unwritten agreements. Of the products of the fields, half went to the owner (dominical part) and half to the farmer. In the cases of three-way relationships (owner, tenant and farmer) the division took place between tenant and farmer; the master took the rent. The owner was responsible for the costs of pruning and undermining the vines, the formoni and the pits, the fees to the farmer when he was called to give his "assistance" to the harvest work, to sift the wheat and shovel it, to do various jobs of the cellar, when it brought to sell the products to the market, the appraisals and the taming of the cattle, the construction and the accommodation of the rural buildings. They produced cecio, red cecio, hemp, cicerchie, cherries, beans, broad beans, mulberry leaves, opium leaves, figs, cheese, wheat, corn, acorns, lenses, lentils, wool, flax, lupins, honey, hazelnuts, walnuts , barley, olives, panic, pears, peaches, peas, grapes, vetch, vein, wine. The farmer had to pay a tax called "collar" when he used the oxen that belonged to the owner to work the land. The peasant's give and take resulted from the "workers' book". On the hill farms, sheep and goats were kept, but also many pigs. The Commerce The aspect that characterizes the economy is the static nature of values. There is no inflation and the differences in the prices of some commodities are caused by momentary extraordinary factors. Another component is the painfulness of work, of wages stuck on the verge of a tiring survival. The economy is very poor, both at the territorial level (municipality of Fratta) and in the Papal State. Another aspect is the almost total concentration of productive activities such as agriculture, for example, in the hands of a few nobles who also took possession of a certain industrial activity (wool mills). There was also a small artisan industry (iron and figulina [terracotta]), but it was limited by a limited availability of capital, always insufficient as it was available in the family. The large payments were made with "bank coupons", generic receipts issued by banks (the "Monti"). The deeds were stipulated by the notary who certified that the buyer was putting the money on the table. Sellers - Bocci (silkworms): Mavarelli, woman Caterina Igi. - Hemp: Alessio Moriconi. - Calcina: Mariangelo di Paolo, Domenico Stoppa. - Construction material: Giovanni Maria Diamanti, Menco di Natale, Andrea Fanfani, Molinari, Domenico Salvatori, Fortunato Agostini, Ludovico Cristiani. - Fronda dei mori (mulberry trees): Antonio called "il Regnicolo", the "Stinco". - Timber: Andrea Bellagamba, Raffaele Scapicchi, Antonio di Giovan Battista, Paolo di Giorgio, Gio. Tomasso da Monte Castelli, Giuseppe Jotti, - Straw: Girolimo di Rondino. - Hides: Pietro Baldoni is a seller (and collector) of goat skins and "white bassettes". - Stabbio: Donna Carolina Gratini (1712) to the brotherhood of San Bernardino; Costantino di Vincentio, Angelino Mavarelli, Giulio Rovinati. Mattio Massi, Filippo Leonetti, Filippo Carocci. - Wine: they received monetary compensation for each barrel of wine. Santi di Cristoforo (1700), Francesco Franceschini, Federico Palazzari (1701), Pietro Martinelli (1715/1749), Francesco Mercante (1722), Antonio Jotti (1726), Costanza Martinelli (1727/1738), woman Elisabetta Jotti, known as " the Padella "(1733/1735), Bernardino Cantelli (1741), Elisabetta Falcioli (1741/1747), Fabrizio Brugnoli (1749), Donna Francesca d'Andrea (1751), Donna Margherita Massi called" the Margarita "(1756/1759 ), Giovanni del quondam Andrea (1759/1760), woman Virginia Ciangottini (1767), Tommaso and Clemente Ciangottini (1768), Antonio known as "il Regnicolo" (1780), woman Maria Antonia Mercanti (1782/1784). Gambattista Fanfani (1787), Gian Maria Bartolini (1789). Shops and shopkeepers 1702 - Gregorio Molinari: glass. 1706 - Francesco Luminati: wax. 1718 - workshop of "Fabbreccia", in Piazza San Francesco, on the side of the Tiber. 1722/1730 - Sante Mavarelli: bread, lard, lard, wax, fàcole and gunpowder. 1724 - cobbler's shop. There were hammer, pincers, ligiatore, knife, stick. 1732 - Pietro Spaccini: glass, dies for windows (to be placed between the glass). 1732 - Gaspare Martinelli: lead for the dies. 1741/1749 - Domenico Cerbonelli: wax, string, nails, incense. 1745 - Borgo di Sopra, market area, Vasaro Giovan Maria Martinelli. 1745 - Borgo di Sopra, master Antonio Vibi, arquebusier. 1745 - Borgo Inferiore, three blacksmith shops. 1748 - Agostino Bettelli: wax. 1753 - Gaspare Martinelli: lead for glass. 1765 - Ercolano Roni: eggs. 1767 / 1797- Vibi: lace, wax, etc .. 1770 - Silvestro Jlartinelli has a "cossi" shop. 1770/1776 - Domenico Mavarelli: wax, lead for paints, canvas bombage . 1779/1795 - Donino Passalbuoni: shoe shop. 1776 - Burelli: "spetie", wax and shellac. 1781 - Vincenzo Mavarelli: wax. 1788 - Guerrini: wax. 1788 - Ubaldo Perugini: oil. 1791 - Alessio Vioriconi: cloth for sacks. 1792 - Girolamo Ciangottini: wax. 1794 - piazza San Francesco, a potter's shop with an adjoining furnace. 1794 - Piaggiola, shoemaker shop. 1794/1797 - “between the doors”. small square at the south-west bulwark (Tiber), the butchery shop, municipal meat resale. 1795 - 1799 - Vincenzo Mavarelh: balance bills, nails, pins, centaroles, silk buds. Taverns and hotels -Osteria della Corona "with accommodation. It was located in Piazza San Francesco, in front of the church of Santa Croce. It was owned by the Counts of Civitella Ranieri. In 1738, a Perugia cop died there, hit by a harquebus." Osteria della Staffa " , with lodging, in the street of San Giovanni, inside the castle walls.It was probably the property of Count Ranieri.There were also the taverns of Antonia Mercanti, with lodging, of Giuseppe Carocci, of Sebastiano Cesaretti. In 1721 there is "the Osteria di Pier Antonio", managed by a certain Bruscatelli. Next to it stood a "palombaro", the classic peasant house. The villa (hamlet) consisted of only these two or three houses. Nearby was the chapel of the Holy Spirit. "L'osteria della Mita" was owned by the Marquises Florenzi di Reschio, who lived in Perugia. Towards Città di Castello there was "l'osteria di Montalto", on the level of the Tiber, along the consular road from Fratta to Niccone. It belonged to the Counts Degli Oddi of Perugia, also owners of the castle of Montalto. Finally, there was "1'osteria della Nese", on the river of the same name, on the border between Perugia and Fratta. Fairs and markets Fairs were held in the first week of June and took place in the square of the church of Sant'Erasmo, also known as "il Mercatale". Only the cattle for such occasions found place in another location, usually the large municipal lawn located beyond the Tiber bridge. In Civitella Ranieri the fair took place between 20 and 25 July. In Montalto, on May 28th. The post office In the eighteenth century the Upper Tiber Valley was crossed by two services with diligence (two "mail courses", as it was then called). One came from Città di Castello and was directed to Perugia, the other departed from Montone and was also directed to Perugia: they stopped in Fratta to change horses, to pick up the mail and any passengers. These "mail courses" arrived in Fratta early in the morning, first that of Montone, then that of Città di Castello, with a delay that could be half an hour compared to the fixed time. They reached Perugia about four hours later. In addition to the "scheduled" service, there was also a special "course", for urgent community mail, called "lo sped" or "celerifero" (a kind of "priority mail). Provided by a man on horseback who brought "bolzetta" (leather bag) only the parcels of the municipality for which the departure of the diligence could not be expected the following day. Trades Oil mills There was one near the Lazzaro ditch, on the border between the "Mercatale di Sant 'Erasmo" and the area of Santa Maria. He probably also had a millstone. In 1794 it belonged to the Mazzaforti brothers who rented it for four years to Ubaldo Cambiotti. In the area there were oil mills in Cicaleto, Migianella, Monte Acuto ("Molino with its press and vine, in whose stump there are three iron circles, the millstone with its trestle and on an iron stake but with a wooden wedge" ), Racchiusole, San Patrignano. Grain mills In the "villa" of Cicaleto, in the parish of San Giuliano, property of the Camaldolese friars of Montecorona. It was located one kilometer from the Tiber river, south of Fratta and remained active until the early decades of the twentieth century. It had its own dam, the grinding wheel, the "cialandro", the hopper, the iron blades. And the "fulling machine", the mechanism for beating woolen cloths by means of large wooden hammers that were moved by the water. Other grain mills were located in Molino Vitelli, Monte Migiano, Serra "di Partuccio", San Patrignano and the abbey of San Salvatore (inside, it was called "mill of the cloister" and drew water from a ditch). I calcined In Santa Giuliana, owned by Mariangelo di Paolo. He made mortar which he sold the soma to four baiocchi. Another on the coast of Monte Acuto, belonging to the Fracassini family. Furnaces They had one Angelo di Roso and Fortunato Agostini, who in 1751 sold bricks for the facade of Santa Croce. In Carpini and Montalto, of the Degli Oddi of Perugia, owners of the castle of the same name. It was demolished by a flood of the Tiber in 1760. A bit of everything'.. Archibugieri: master Giulio Castellani, master Giuseppe and master Antonio. Gilders: Antonio Gabriotti, in 1717 gives gold to the candlesticks and carteglories of Santa Croce; Giuseppe Ferranti, from Gubbio. Silversmiths: Silvestro Angelini, from Perugia; in 1743 he sold a chalice and a silver paten to the Confraternity of Santa Croce. Bastari: Pietro Profili, Tommaso Mischianti, Giacomo Botti and Fabio Urbani. Bottari and bigonzari: Alessandro Jotti, Angelo Ciangottini, Francesco Puletti. Calzolari: were gathered in the congregation of the art of shoe-making (which had its own chapel in the church of Santa Croce, at the altar of Saints Crispino and Crispiniano, protectors of the category): Pietro di Angelo, Ubaldo Moretti, Carlo Guerrini, Donino Passalboni, Antonio Mariani. Hatters: Passalbuoni, Giuseppe Benedetti from Città di Castello. There was also a shop in Castel Nuovo. Canapari: Giovan Carlo Montanucci. Tanners: Giulio and Panfilio. Designers: Brischi, Giuseppe Notari and Giovan Pietro Gigli. Fabbri: Lorenzo and Pietro Martinelli, Carlo Francesconi, Domenico Paganelli, Raimondo Rotelli, Pier Giovanni Lestini, Francesco d'Agostino, known as "Ferraccio". At the end of the eighteenth century two blacksmith shops were in the small open space at the beginning of the road that leads to the Borgo Inferiore, immediately after the bridge over the Reggia. In 1798 Silvestro Martinelli and Vincenzo Jotti are the "officials" of the art and university of blacksmiths. Carpenters: Carlo Bolisi (1720), Ludovico Franceschini (1724), Alessandro Jotto (1753), Giovan Lorenzo Gigli (1750), Francesco Moscatelli (1745) in Pierantonio, Giuseppe Jotti (1749). Founders: Gregorio Righi, from Perugia, melts and accommodates the bells of Santa Croce in 1717. Fornari: Bartolomeo di Lorenzo, Domenico Lauri, Giovan Battista di Giulio, Bernardino Tassi, Olimpia Tassi. Carvers: Marco Batazzi, Alessandro Igi. Slaughterers: Santino, Andrea, Giuseppe Schiavini; Angelino Mavarelli, Marino Farneti. Magnani: Michele Aragoni (1698/1710). Laborers and porters: Tommaso di Francesco, Santi Paoletti. Giulio di Goro, Domenico Salvatori. Marescalchi: Antonio Mazzanti. Measurers, estimators: Fabrizio Mazzaforti (barrel meter), Lodovico Franceschini (grain meter), Alessandro Jotti (timber estimator), Antonio Brischi (wine meter), Vincenzo Mavarelli (wine estimator). Molinari: Tommaso Mancini, Giuseppe di Antonio. Masons: Giovanni, known as "Miracle", Costanzo di Cesare, Antonio di Giovan Maria, Ventura Bartoccini (master mason), Ercolano Corsini, Domenico Farneti (master mason). Mason's tools were the hammer, the spoon, the hoe for making mortar, the hammer, the lead, the archipendolo, the shovel to scornigate. Organ builders: Carlo Balducci, Pietro Forti, Orazio Fedeli. Pyrotechnicians: 1786, Francesco Natali; 1787, Bernardino Brischi Painters: Antonio Gabriotti, Francesco Leonardi, Ubaldo Vitaliani, Giuseppe Ferranti, Francesco Cocchi, Giuseppe Bertanzi. Pollaroli: Pietro known as "1'Anitraro", Giambattista. Pruners: Antonio called Sciuga, Francesco di Antonio; Francesco Scalseggia. Embroiderers: Colomba Vespucci. Tailors: Guerrini, Crestina Francesconi woman, Francesco Moriconi, Mauritio Pucci, Margherita Massi woman. Stonecutters: Francesco di Vincenzo, Lorenzo Brischi, Francesco known as "Borzicchio", Domenico Mavarelli, "il Riccio". Segatori: Giuseppe Moretti, Tommaso di Pascuccio, Belardino known as "il Regnicolo", Paolo Pieroni, Panfilio di Francesco, Paolo Ercoli. Saddler: Fabio Urbani Stucchi: Giuseppe Notari (1753, works in Santa Croce), Giovanni Cherubini. Weavers: Maria Cristina Francesconi, Aurora Roni, Elisabetta Cantelli woman, Margherita Massi woman. There are no factories, woolen mills and cloth factories. The processing is done in the homes of private citizens as many have looms. Dyer: Gerolamo Martinelli. Vasari: Francesco Fussai (1709), Giammatteo Martinelli (1742), Silvestro Martinelli, Gaetano Martinelli. Painters: Giuseppe Ferranti Carriers and couriers: Paolo Cangelotti, Marino Rotelli, Tommaso di Marco, Andrea di Ercolano, Giovanni known as "Spaterna", Pietro Simone Cicutella. Education In the eighteenth century there was a school where the first elements of reading, writing and arithmetic were taught, held by a clergyman. He was paid by the community with a salary that was, at the beginning of the century, of about twelve, fourteen scudi a year. To these were added three shields from the confraternity of Santa Croce as schoolmaster and another twenty-five that the same corresponded to him "for the chaplaincy", the task of saying masses in the chapel of the brotherhood. The employment contract was stipulated between the municipality and the master before the notary. In case of vacancy, the parents of the children signed a policy with which they agreed to pay a small sum to the municipality, in favor of the teacher. The school was located in the Borgo Inferiore, in the premises of the Confraternity of Santa Croce. At the end of the century, the master took thirty-two scudi a year from the community. In addition to this he received eight scudi from the Confraternity of Santa Croce again for the school and the "chaplaincy", to which were added the sums from other confraternities for various religious or occasional services such as musical performances on the occasion of parties. However, the annual income was sufficient for a decent standard of living. A teacher taught grammar and rhetoric for a salary of seventy scudi a year. At the end of the century this school was located in Castel Nuovo, on the premises of the former monastery of Santa Maria Nuova, purchased by the community of Fratta. In 1700 the schoolmaster was Don Pietro Cardoni, from Nocera. He lived in the two rooms above the Santa Croce hospital that the brotherhood had reserved for him. The latter retained fifteen paoli a year from the salary she paid him for the rent: thirty paoli in all, that is, three scudi. As was customary at the time, the maestro also performed the "music service" for the company of Santa Croce. In early August 1719 Cardoni resigned. Don Matteo Silvestrini took over and the brotherhood also rents the rooms above the hospital to him. In 1725 the teacher is Don Pietro Burli. In the early months of 1730 the school teacher was a certain Fabbri, but in April he was replaced by Don Innocenzo Diamanti, for four years. Then the Abbot Giovan Battista Orlandini and Don Lorenzo Meuccio. From 1741 to 1750 the masters were Don Ubaldo Balducci, Don Gerolamo Passi, Don Francesco Tosoni, Don Gaspare Mazzaforti, Don Lorenzo Pellegrini, Don Modesto Spinetti. From 1750 we find don Arcangelo Mischianti (teacher of sacred theology is fra 'Francesco Maria Calindri, guardian of the convent of San Francesco), don Alessandro Dini born in Urbania, don Matteo Tosciliani, don Paolo Costantini, don Ubaldo Menghini, don Stefano Loretti, don Angelo Mavarelli, don Antonio Giuseppe Gnagneri, don Cristiani, don Giuseppe Angelini, the canon don Paolucci. In 1787 the school teacher was Don Ercolano Mavarelli. He took four scudi a four-month period. He is a canon of the collegiate church of San Giovanni. In 1789, Father Fulgenzio Maria, a minor of the observers of the convent of Santa Maria, born in Città di Castello, was the master. In 1790 there is the canon Pecchioli followed by Don Luca Brami. We then find Don Sebastiano Riccardi and Abbot Paolo Padoni. The teaching of music It could be public and private. The first was entrusted to the chapel masters and these, having graduated in music in some school, were called and paid by the various brotherhoods and religious congregations. Their dependence explains the term "di cappella", as the brotherhoods had their headquarters in a church where they owned a chapel with an altar dedicated to their protector. The major brotherhoods, of Santa Croce and San Bernardino, had their own teacher but he did not take a salary that would guarantee him economic security; for this he also carried out occasional work at other brotherhoods and churches, managing, among other things, to earn enough to live. In addition to public teaching, there was a private one. There was the custom of entrusting a young man, from early adolescence, to a teacher who undertook, for an annual fee, to teach him instrumental music and singing and, at times, also to read and write. The boy, however, had to leave his family and move to the house of the teacher, who became father-master, staying here for the established time, about ten years. All this was agreed through a notarial deed comprising many clauses. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Illustrations by Adriano Bottaccioli. Harvesting of wheat by hand (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Peasant family (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Sul paiaio (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) On the ox cart (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Calesse (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) 1977. La Fornace (Giuseppe Severi Archive) 1975. Trace of a potter's oven in via Bovicelli (Giuseppe Severi Archive) Glimpse of Santa Croce Agricoltura, Commercio, Mestieri e Istruzione Le chiese minori di Fratta e i proietti La chiesa di Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio Church of Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio The ancient temple was located at the height of the current analysis laboratory in the old hospital of Umbertide The church, of very ancient origins dating back to the early twelfth century, stood in the Upper Borgo of Fratta, called Castelvecchio, right on the spot where the old hospital was built in 1870. It had a bell tower with two bells and several altars inside. One of these, dedicated to Santa Barbara, was built in 1735 (1). Despite the long life and the prestige it had held in the hearts of the faithful of Fratta, we know little of its characteristics. We do not know its shape and we are not able to know if it kept works of a certain value within it, which is possible given the long history of the temple. If we lack certain information on its origins and its structure, we have, on the other hand, detailed information on its end which coincided with that of the eighteenth century. The collapse, in fact, began much earlier, in the year 1751, when the parish priest, Archpriest Petrogalli, informed the Bishop of Gubbio that a part of the roof was collapsing and also the wall around the bell tower was about to do the same. The authorization for the "reduction" of the church arrived and as the collapses continued, it was further reduced to become a small chapel. In this capacity it was occasionally officiated for some time and later disappeared as the seat of the services of the cult. The "reduction" works were financed with the proceeds from the sale of the main bell (2) which also made it possible to embellish the altar of the church of San Giovanni Battista, where on 15 December 1752 the painting representing Sant'Andrea, painted by Benedetto Cavallucci of Perugia. Note: 1. See Umberto Pesci, History of Umbertide, Typography R. Fruttini di Gualdo Tadino, year 1932, p. 133 et seq. 2. Archpriest Petrogalli, with the Bishop's permission granted on 10 November 1751, had sold the main bell, weighing 220 pounds, to the Philippine Fathers of Montefalco for 38 scudi. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide - September 2003 THE MINOR CHURCHES OF FRATTA AND THE PROJECTS The minor churches The church of the Madonna del Moro was located just outside the Borgo Inferiore, in the center of a farm owned by the Savelli family, next to the farmer's house and a well. In 1746 the farm was sold to Bernardino Dell'Uomo with all the annexes and the small chapel followed the fate of the house and the fields. The instead, the small temple of the Madonna del Giglio was located near the Borgo Superiore, in a property of Donna Pellegrini Stella, widow of Giovan Francesco Paolucci. The lady contributed to the maintenance of the chapel with the sum of five scudi a year. On 16 September 1730 she made her will and ordered that, after her death, the heir, who was her nephew, Captain Giovan Tommaso Paolucci, should continue to pay the contribution. In the market area there was a small chapel, also called Chiesina del Boccaiolo , dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The news comes from very few lines of a notarial deed (1) . The church, which we do not know precisely where it was, was enlarged by Marcantonio Stella who did not have it as a property, but was obliged to maintain it as well as to have one mass said a month and six masses on the 10th. December each year. In front of the church of Sant'Agostino, before entering the Piazza del Mercatale, on the left, stood the Monastery of Santa Maria Nuova with the chapel of Santa Lucia attached to it. When the Monastery was suppressed on July 21, 1787, it continued to be open to worship. It was also called the "church of the blacksmiths" because that corporation had obtained it for use by the Municipality, which in 1787 had become the owner of the entire former monastery. Towards the end of the century, in 1790, it underwent substantial maintenance work for an amount of 140 scudi advanced by Lorenzo Vibi. The intervention suggests that the chapel was still officiated. There is little news about the church of Calatola . It was located in the homonymous farm word, above the hill where the Bertanzi house stands (Villa Pace). The chapel almost certainly belonged to the same family. Church of Sant 'Agostino Shortly before entering Piazza del Mercatale (Piazza Marconi), to the right of whoever descends from Piaggiola, stood the convent of Sant'Agostino and the church of the same name, right in the center of Castelnuovo. The temple was regularly officiated by the Augustinian Fathers who had the responsibility and care of it; it housed several altars, including one dedicated to Sant'Antonio, and communicated with the premises of the convent in the west. Above the ceiling of the church there were two large rooms and on the north side, between the road to Montone and the apse, there was a vegetable garden cultivated by the friars. The church was a thriving center of religious life and faith as long as the Augustinians who were its soul remained there, but when they left Fratta, the church also took second place. The convent, in fact, was suppressed and in 1738 its property, which also included that of the church, passed to the Municipality. The Judiciary of Fratta, in the same year, asked the Bishop of Gubbio for authorization to sell the buildings adjacent to the church. The permission was granted especially since the transfer was destined to remain "in the parish" because the buyer was a priest, Don Silvestro Fanfani, who offered 110 scudi. It was a forced choice since the administrators needed cash to pay the salary of the school teacher, since for several years and after numerous attempts, they had not been able to rent those premises. The church, which showed signs of subsidence in the wall along the road, was the subject of a careful restoration with the construction of a sturdy support spur. Towards the middle of the century, therefore, it was still officiated and was entrusted to the Company of Death. Note: 1) The deed reads: "Remembrance of the faculty given by Mr. Giambattista Bartolelli from Città di Castello to the late Marcantonio Stella of this land to enlarge and expand the church of the Madonna SS.ma di Loreto in the Market. Deed of the notary Michelangelo Cenni di Gubbio , on 15 September 1690, without reserve of patronage ". The projectiles (foundlings) One of the many painful problems of the century, of the previous ones and also of the following one, was the plague of projectiles (or foundlings, or exposed). There were many, more than one can imagine, and in some cases, in addition to the doors of convents, churches and hospitals, where newborns were usually abandoned, revolving drums were also put into operation, communicating with some convent, to to deposit defenseless children, wrapped in poor clothes as best they can. Also in Fratta there was one (1) , near the “scortico”, in the inter portas square that led to the Tiber bridge. It was called "The wheel of the exposed". The painful phenomenon had deep social roots and did not bear the signs of the scarcity of the maternal sense. The mere thought of such a hypothesis would be an offense to feelings and history. The mother was certainly the first person to feel the agony of the dramatic detachment and to swallow drops of daily bitterness at the thought that the fruit of her breast would grow without affection and without caresses. But in a society such as the eighteenth century, in which infant mortality reached very high levels even in the most affluent families, and the darkest poverty gripped a large part of the population, the abandonment of one's creature to a destiny that was hoped to be generous with better assistance, paradoxically it could represent an act of love or, at the very least, an extra hope of survival. History hides, pitiful and discreet, a series of sufferings and dramas that have not touched the palaces of power, the only archives that an ancient and widespread historiographic theory has carefully consulted in its partial research. The Fratta projectiles were taken to Perugia, to the Misericordia hospital, which then sent them to Assisi, where Mons. Caracciolo, since 1739, had created a special hospice. The transport to Perugia, for the weak newborn, already represented a heap of hardships, especially in the winter period, but for the insiders it was a normal practice to be carried out, governed by a series of strict provisions, behaviors and remunerations. (25 baiocchi per trip, for the coachman). Several had to arrive in Perugia if the Prior of that city, on May 14, 1741, sent a recommendation to the Confraternity of Santa Croce which had asked for information on the matter. The letter was long, but we report the most pleasant part, to soften the tints of the drama: "In response from the highly esteemed Loro Loro around the reception and transfer of the Proietti from there to this Hospital of Perugia, there is no difficulty in bringing us those who were born in this Territory of Fratta to be this of the Territory of Perugia, only the diligence remains that they are not from another nearby Territory, or from Città di Castello, or from Gubbio, that these have their Hospitals and there is the order of Monsignor Caracciolo, as they will see to the notification sent to them, as well as being careful that they do not take legitimacy and comply in everything with those orders, to which the due penalties are imposed ". With all the good will it was difficult to establish the provenance and territorial belonging of the projectiles, and if we had some certainty about it, they would no longer be such. Those in charge of this sector did everything they could to entrust them to some local nurse who nursed them in the very first days of life, before making the journey to Perugia, but the death records are pitiless. In 1753 one of them was entrusted to the Briganti family of Polgeto: “Luigi dies, of an uncertain father and mother, ten days old, handed over to Veronica Briganti on January 21st”; "On February 18, 1753 Anna dies, of uncertain father and mother, handed over to Veronica Martinelli to nurse her on February 11"; "On May 9 Maria dies, of uncertain father and mother, handed over to Veronica Martinelli to breastfeed her". And the list goes on, but we prefer to stop here. Just to give an example, in the parish of Sant'Erasmo alone, in 1710, five were collected in front of the church door and six in 1720, to refer only to two years of a religious community that had 600 souls. Note: 1. There was also another one next to the convent of Santa Maria Nuova. The gardener who cultivates the adjacent garden testifies that it was visible until the end of the 1950s. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, 2003 PROCUREMENT AND PUBLIC PROPERTIES Procurement Almost all of the taxes were contracted out to a debt collector through a regular competition. The obligation was introduced in 1729 by an Edict of Pope Benedict XIII which remained in force for a large part of the following century. The method used for the award was that of the "virgin candle" described in detail in another volume (1). Some contracts were extraordinary and remained in existence for the duration of the tax, as we have seen for the passage tax; others were fixed because the sector of activity subjected to the tax was permanent, such as that of supplies and some services, and were renewed every three years. They constituted the most reliable and most substantial income for the Municipality. All citizens duly informed by the notice of the announcement posted on the door of the Municipality and by the Balio tubatore could participate in the conduct of the race who, after scraping a few rings of tuba, read the main heads of the announcement through the streets of the castle and in the squares inter portas. In a council meeting of May 27, 1747 the contracts were discussed and thanks to it we were able to know not only which and how many there were, but also the amount that we wanted to obtain. We report them in the same order in which they were exhibited at that meeting: 1. Public Oven Contract 2. Tender for the Land Stamp 3. Procurement of the Carne Stamp 4. Public Slaughterhouse Contract 5. Procurement of the Damage Given 6. Contract of the Salara 7. Oil shop contract 8. Procurement of Measures 9. Procurement of Wood 10. Contract of the Stabbio 11. Procurement of the Foietta 12. Cenciaria contract 13. Tiber Wood Contract. Procurement of the oven The public oven belonged to the Municipality which did not manage it directly, but gave it to contract. In truth, in some short periods of the century, for reasons that escape us, the system of direct management was adopted. We can only exclude that they were of an economic nature, since the average annual gain obtained with self-management was about 40 scudi, while the contract yielded 90. Self-management lost 50 net scudi, to which they were owed add all the management hassles and worries. The contractor, in fact, in addition to the bread making was forced to provide for the purchase of the grain, its grinding; to the wood for the oven, all at his expense, and finally to the bread trade. It was a job that took a lot, especially in an era when there were still no electric ovens, special yeasts and various types of flour already packaged. The frequent change of management of the oven, moreover, indicates that the profit margins were not flattering. In 1710 the contract, always three years, was in the hands of a certain Pietro Antonio Marcellini who had inherited it from Ercolano Fanfani and Giovanni Antonio Agostini. The most lasting management was the one that goes from 1770 to 1781 held by Giovanni Antonio Agostini, perhaps a descendant of the manager we met at the beginning of the century. In the five-year period 1787/1791 the Municipality almost certainly managed it on its own with the results we have illustrated. In the following year the contract was won by Ubaldo Perugini. Towards the end of the century, in 1793, there was an attempt at competition by the Count of Civitella who was determined to open a bakery on the border of his county with the territory of the Municipality of Fratta, right at the point where today Viale Unità d ' Italia intersects with Via Roma, in the place then called Case Nuove. Giuseppe Palchetti had to manage it. The new exercise would have represented a serious blow to the public oven because Civitella did not apply duties to the activities inside its territory. The matter was resolved haphazardly in a meeting between the Count and the First Prior, at the end of which it was decided that things would remain as before. Procurement of the land stamp Even in those days whoever temporarily occupied the public land had to pay a tax to the Municipality. The most typical and recurrent case was that of the itinerant trade. As usual, the Camerlengo did not directly collect the sum and the entire sector was given out on a three-year contract to the highest bidder. In the middle of the century the contract yielded 38 scudi a year. Procurement of the meat and slaughterhouse stamp All the beasts had to be "skinned" at the slaughterhouse. The skins were then left to dry in the sun and the meat, cut into pieces, was subjected to the stamp by the "Bollatore delle Carni". The stamp was a guarantee of safety for the consumer and also of quality among the various types of meat (ox, cow, veal, sheep, mutton, pork, etc.), but above all a tax expedient. The Bollatore was the one who had won the three-year tender and not a veterinarian. Its only role was to withdraw the stamp duties from the butchers and to pay the Municipality an annual fee that was between 30 and 140 scudi per year. The slaughterhouse was also subject to the same regime. This is obviously the public slaughterhouse that the Municipality kept open for calming purposes, while the private butcher had fulfilled his obligation with the payment of the stamp on the meat. The management of the public slaughterhouse was subject to the normal procurement procedure and the winner undertook to pay a fee that averaged around 35 scudi per year (2). In addition to being a contract, the relationship could be configured as a "slaughterhouse rental", but the rules and procedures followed were those of contracts and not those of leases. Since they had to carry out the control function, the prices were agreed with the Municipality. Castrato, for example, had to be sold for 4 baiocchi (twenty quattrini) a pound, but from the first Sunday of Lent until the feast of St. John (24 June) it had to be sold for 21 quattrini a pound. Cow, sheep and goat meat sold for 12 quattrini a pound. The regulation of the contract of 1782 required that during the Christmas holidays all meat had to undergo a reduction, in line with the "social" function that the public slaughterhouse performed. Contract for the damage given and the deposit of the pawns The contractor was responsible for the surveillance and protection of public, movable and immovable property. When they were damaged ("damage given"), his task was to report the person responsible to the Commissioner Judge and to collect the compensation established, if the dispute had not been settled by amicable means. Part of the sum (usually a third) was due to him and the other part was paid into the coffers of the Municipality. It was a type of contract whose revenue was unpredictable and for this reason it was entrusted to the same contractor as the Depositeria dei Pegni, or Monte dei Pegni, as it was more commonly called. Debtors who could not meet their financial obligations often resorted to them, in the absence of the banks, to deposit an object of value and receive a sum in cash. At the set deadline, the depositary withdrew the pledge by paying the amount received with the interest and deposit rights. If this did not happen, as it often did, the pledge remained the property of the contractor who arranged for the sale and withheld the proceeds. The contractor had to have a fair amount of cash to secure the loans and had to be a skilled trader to make the valuation of the assets deposited. The contract paid the Municipality 6 scudi per year approximately. Contract for the salary, oil shop and grocery store Salt was a kind of monopoly in the Papal State and the sales regime was subject to government regulations. The purchase had to take place in the official "Salara", which for the Fratta Community was that of Perugia, or of Fossombrone, Iesi, Fabriano or Ancona, if it did not have one. The amount of the withdrawal was fixed at 36,000 pounds per year, and the local salary was also to serve the municipalities of Preggio, “Castelrigone”, the Badia di Monte Corona, “Pier Antonio” and Pian di Ronzano. For retail outlets, the usual procurement system was used, which in this specific case had a duration of two years, and the "Minister of the Salara", as the contractor was also called (3), had the strict obligation to cover the entire needs of the territory under its jurisdiction, since salt is an indispensable element of very large consumption. With the “Salara”, but in separate tenders, the oil shop and the grocery store were also contracted out. In the first, edible oil was sold and in the second, cured meats, lard and lard, salted meats and cheese. The prices of the products were set by the Defenders and had to be clearly visible on a sign posted in the shop. While we do not know how much the Community earned with the salt contract, the oil shop and the grocery store yielded 20 scudi a year (8 scudi for oil and 12 for other products). Procurement of weight measurements The possibility of weighing quantities of goods over 50 pounds was an exclusive prerogative that belonged to the Nobile Collegio del Cambio of Perugia, which held the monopoly right in this sector. Not being able to exercise it directly, the Noble College contracted it out to the various communities and these, in turn, to a local contractor through the usual tender procedure. "The large steelyard", as the scale was called, was considered a "public weigher" and the receipt issued attested not only the payment of the rights, but also the exact weight of the goods, to be asserted in court in case of disputes. The large steelyard belonged to the Municipality, which had to comply with all the provisions issued by the Collegio del Cambio and the Congregation of the Good Government (CBG) of Perugia. Even private individuals could equip themselves with a similar instrument, which had to be "stamped" by the contractor, that is, subjected to the control and payment of a tax, and was not valid in the event of a dispute, nor could it be lent to others, under penalty of seizure of the "steelyard". Weights under 50 pounds were carried out in all the shops of the time and in private homes, but the scales, in addition to the stamp duty, were subjected to bi-monthly checks. Other contracts Anyone wishing to bring firewood into the village had to pay a tax to the contractor as a "right of entry". The parcels were different in relation to the type of transport that could take place “a some”, that is, on the back of a donkey or mule, or in larger quantities of wagons. Payment in kind was also envisaged with the deposit of a piece of wood next to the entrance door to the castle. Generally the wood came from the cutting of the woods, but there was - also the “del Ponte” one, that is all the trunks that the floods of the Tiber piled up close to the pylons of the bridge. All this material that formed a kind of dam, with a lot of practical sense and foresight, was removed and sold on a systematic basis. Most of the time the contractor was unique, but the " wood of the Bridge " could have a different one from the official one. The streets of the town were haunted by the passage of beasts which, not being angels, deposited their excrements along the way, without much modesty. In an economic system in which nothing was thrown away and everything was recycled, even the “pen” was a useful material. The Municipality contracted out the collection and sale to the highest bidder who, in addition to making a profit, kept the streets of the town clean. The same thing happened with the rags whose collection was contracted out (contract by the cenciaria). The rags then ended up in Fabriano, where a thriving processing industry had existed since then. The pleasure of the "drop" of wine seems to have ancient origins and even goes back to Noah. For the taxman there could not have been a better opportunity. Thus the innkeepers and innkeepers who sold the wine by the minute had to pay the “foietta” tax. Even fishing, in the stretch of the river along the walls, did not escape the tax burden and the fishermen had to pay a kind of "license" to the contractor on duty. These latter contracts did not represent large revenues for the Community. The tax on the fishing license, for example, paid the municipality a shield a year. We do not know about the others, but we are inclined to believe that municipal finances could not be raised with rags, stabbing and wood. Various revenue A few more shields entered the anemic municipal coffers through the leasing of land, of the Shiites, of the houses and shops of public property, but it was very little. The sale of the crushed stone of the Tiber, the foliage of the poplars ( albaroni ), of the willows, of the elms and above all of the morigelsi, planted along the roads and the banks of the waterways, also gave some shields. The breeding of silkworms was widely practiced, even in small quantities in common houses, not to mention the massive production of maggots that were found in the area. The recycled materials of the renovated public properties were also sold, such as bricks, beams, tiles and bent tiles. The Rocca enjoyed direct financing from Perugia of 45 scudi a year, intended for the maintenance costs of the building and the entire complex of the castle walls . There were also chancellery rights at that time and those who needed declarations, certifications or copies of deeds were subjected to the payment of the expected fee. In any case, the proceeds deriving from the various items of income were very often not sufficient to cover the expenses of the Community and recourse to the loan was a constant practice even in those times. As there were no public credit institutions, private individuals were used, which were mostly religious communities. The loan was always guaranteed with the stipulation of a written deed, often with the endorsement of a guarantor and sometimes also with the deposit of a pledge by the guarantor himself. It happened that the Municipality had credits to collect, but they did not constitute an additional income, but the recovery of taxes not paid at the time by the defaulting taxpayer. Public properties In the century in question, the concept of "inventory" did not exist and therefore we do not have a detailed list of municipal property. From the various documents examined, however, it can be deduced that the patrimonial situation of the Municipality was approximately the following: L. Since 1725 there was a community of Monte Acuto with land on the coast of San Giovanni. We do not know for sure what the relationship between the Comunanza and the Municipality of Fratta was, but it is possible that it was a municipal property sold for use to farmers in the area. 2. In 1738 the Municipality became the owner of the church, the building, the gardens and the farm of the former convent of Sant'Agostino. The farm word “ Sant'Agostino ” had an area of 18 mines and three tables; farmhouse, cellar, barn and oven. The rent paid the Municipality 10 scudi a year paid in "two pays", that is, in two half-yearly installments. 3. In 1766 the Municipality owned the "shop of the bridge" which was located in the south-west bastion, that is in the small inter portas square near the bridge over the Tiber. It was rented to Silvestro Somigli with land under the public oven. 4. All the shiites under the castle walls were municipal property and also the environments in which commercial activities of public utility were carried out: oven, salary, flaying. 5. The seat of the municipal residence belonged to the Municipality, namely the Palazzo in the Rocca square and, subsequently, the former Convent of Santa Maria Nuova. 6. A house located in via San Giovanni di Bartolomeo Petrogalli was purchased by the Municipality in 1780. 7. Some registrations of 1798 certify that the following assets are sources of income for the Municipality, and therefore owned by it: • a vegetable garden attached to the municipal house; • a cellar under the municipal house; • a vegetable garden above the castle walls and under the Bruni house; • a vegetable garden in the word Porta Nova; • two pieces of land under the fortress; • two pieces of land at Boccaiolo, under the castle walls; • a shop known as the "old slaughterhouse"; • a large number of mori-mulberry trees on the municipal skies. Note: 1. For the same reason, Montone had to pay 2,500 scudi (Ascani A., Storia di Montone). The news is interesting because it can be deduced that at that time the territory of Fratta was smaller than that of Montone. 2. For the sake of completeness, we report the names of the contractors that result from the records in the Archives: 1774/76 Angelo Mavarelli, 1776 Angelo Nardi from Fiesole, 1779 Gismondo Contadini. 3. In 1745 the contractor was Mattia Degli Arrighi. After him the post was taken on by Bernardino Dell'Uomo. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, 2003 Gli appalti e le proprietà pubbliche THE TIBER, THE BRIDGES, THE CASTLE WALLS Work on the area after the bridge The Tiber, silent and lazy, in some circumstances also knew how to be noisy and violent, so much so that, over the course of the century, it caused considerable damage to the banks and the castle walls. The banks along the Montalto area were the hardest hit, in particular the right one where the road to Città di Castello passed. The biggest damage occurred in 1760 when a brick kiln belonging to Count Degli Oddi, then owner of the castle of Montalto, and a long stretch of road were swept away by the current. "The city of Perugia, with the assistance of Mr. Domenico Tickets, factor of the castellano Degli Oddi, made a new road and built a double brush in the place of corrosion ..." But the most dangerous damage occurred to the north and south of the Fratta bridge, right along the castle walls. The river bed then followed a slightly different path, and upstream of the bridge, due to the erosions accumulated over time, the Tiber described a wide loop between the fields, moving away from the primitive route parallel to the road that corresponds to the current one. The current of the waters coming from the north direction rushed through the area of the bridge and threatened to dig an autonomous path, cutting the road and bypassing it on the right bank of the river. In 1758 the erosion reached only fifteen meters from the route of the via tifernate and the risk seemed to materialize with the breakthrough downstream. Fortunately, the phenomenon stopped, otherwise serious troubles would have been produced: the weakened castle defenses, the dry bridge, the compromised weir and large expenses for the adaptation of urban infrastructures to the new route (mills, public wash house, gardens and sewer system ). Therefore, a serious reorganization of the banks was urgent and the first systematic interventions began in 1753. In that year, the Sacred Congregation of the Waters of Perugia sent the engineer Antonio Felice Facci to Val di Chiana, then a marshy area, to carry out no better specified remarks. And since the Fratta was along the route, the technician was also in charge of examining the state of the banks of the Tiber around the castle. On the outward journey he stopped for two days, taking lodging at the Staffa tavern (1) at the expense of the Municipality; on his return trip, on February 17, 1753, he stopped again for three days, always in the same inn and always at the expense of the Municipality. We do not know the report that the engineer presented to the competent Authorities, but something concrete certainly suggested, if at the beginning of 1754 the first expense reports for works of a certain consistency appearing on the right bank of the Tiber, north of the bridge. . The trick used was to reinforce the bank with a palisade of large beams embedded in the ground and connected by thick planks behind which stones and bundles of glass were stowed. The "club" was also ingeniously built to drive the beams into the ground. It consisted of a castle of wooden planks from which a heavy oak trunk was lowered, shod at the edges, which hit the head of the pole. After each stroke the log was hoisted up again by six workers who pulled a sturdy rope wrapped in a pulley and the strokes were repeated until the desired depths were reached. All the timber was supplied by the Camaldolese of Monte Corona. The costs of the works, including technicians' fees, travel and reimbursement of expenses, reached high levels and in 1755 provisional tolls were imposed on every animated being who crossed the bridge. The table of tax levies has come down to us and we are reporting it for information for our readers. Surprisingly, they also paid the people at a rate equivalent to pigs, for reasons of weight and nothing else. People, 3 cash per person per day Beast unloads, cash 6 Charged beast, money 12 Horse-drawn carriage or wagon, baiocchi 4 Pigs, 3 bucks each Sheep, castrated and goats, 2 money each Vaccine, money 6 each In the same year there were important visits. The engineer of the Municipality of Perugia, Pietro Carattoli, the engineer of the Sacred Congregation of Waters, Antonio Felice Facci and a Jesuit, certain Father Ippolito, came to "recognize the state of erosion, draw up the map of the place and check the works". Syrians. The works continued uninterrupted throughout the year and beyond, so much so that on June 22, 1756 another inspection arrived, that of Don Pietro Tassinari. The monsignor left, on 10 July the Tiber organized another ruinous flood which, in addition to damaging the sheltered banks, took away a good quantity of planks stowed in the yard, later recovered in Ponte Felcino. The flood in July made it clear that the defense of the banks alone was not enough to prevent damage and around the sick area the commitment of the administration and technicians for more radical solutions intensified, with surprising timeliness. In March 1758, the engineer of the Municipality of Perugia, Pietro Carattoli, came back to Fratta and drew a new plan of the area in which the construction of an artificial canal was planned to bring the river back to its original layout, parallel to the road, so that close to the city walls it made a bend of 90 ° sufficient to harness the violence of the floods. The works began immediately in May and were almost finished by the end of June (2) . The work gave the desired effect: not only did it lighten the places from the damage of erosion, but the river immediately began to flow in a stable and definitive way in that riverbed which is still its natural bed today. Other floods occurred in 1773 and 1778 which threatened the Tifernate road and the Cistercian mill, but the works carried out considerably limited the damage. The use of manpower was massive and also involved women. Their task was to find the stones to be placed inside the "baskets", a kind of wicker containers, which were used by the workers in charge of sheltering the banks to stabilize the river embankments. The papers tell us that they were 19 and they received six baiocchi a day, almost as much as men. There was also a large group of woodcutters to saw the beams and boards, a team of cable workers to work the hemp and weave the ropes and ribs (sturdy bands of canvas), a handful of men who took care of the poles and these, in all likelihood, they must have been the workers at the poles of the castle of the mace, and a series of other figures of workers and artisans such as carters, masons, shovellers, etc. The most urgent and imposing works for the arrangement of the banks and to avoid damage to the castle were certainly those to the north of the bridge, but the intervention to the south was also necessary and in this sense, since 1752 (3 ), repeated requests were made which had no effect. In 1758, once the work to the north was completed, the pushes began again to fix the stretch of river from the bridge to the Schioppe, the cliff that was then also called "Punta della Genga" (4) . The practice went on very slowly due to evident contrasts between the Municipality, the frontists and the Perugian authorities who had to grant authorization to proceed, as well as an economic contribution. Since 1757 the three frontists - the friars of the convent of San Francesco, the Paolucci family and Count Ranieri di Civitella - had taken steps on their own to stem the banks along their properties. They were even willing to intervene on their own even in the most critical point of the situation, that is, at the mouth of the Palace into the Tiber, with the construction of a masonry "spur" or "guardian". The Municipality, although not very convinced of the solution, agreed because "you don't look a gift horse in the mouth", but Perugia rejected the proposal because it would have worsened the situation. On the contrary, the Sacred Congregation of Waters also contested the works of arrangement of the banks already carried out, inviting the frontists to demolish them. The result was a technical-juridical controversy which lasted for years and which had the sole result of paralyzing every initiative until 1789, when hostilities resumed. This time the experts came forward. The Municipality of Fratta, the city of Perugia and the Camaldolese friars (owners of the land on the right bank of the Tiber) chose Pietro Casimiro Fagliuoli as their expert; the convent of San Francesco, Paolucci and Count Ranieri commissioned the archpriest Don Bartolomeo Borghi, a great expert on the subject. But even the experts did not find an agreement and decided to resort to the arbitration of a well-known professional, a certain Virgilio Bracci, architect and engineer of the Sacred Congregation of the Good Government of Rome, who in those days was in Perugia. The meeting "in spite of the place" took place on 25 October 1789, in the presence of the archpriest Borghi and the abbot Luigi Pacini representing Fagliuoli. After two days of discussions, the dispute ended at the table with the lunch offered by the Camaldolese and a transaction was signed. It was a platonic agreement only because the commitments were never honored. Only two years later, the signed pacts were resumed with the decision to build at the mouth of the Reggia that triangular spur that the wise frontists had already designed in 1757. But when the work began, the Congregation of Waters of Perugia, still allergic to spurs, made it known that it did not intend to participate in the costs as it was due only to the frontists. One thing finally became clear: if the agreed works were to be carried out, the three owners had to bear all the expenses and the engineer Cristoforo Bartoli was promptly sent from Perugia to establish the boundaries of the land and share the shares. The bridges La Fratta was a fortress completely surrounded by water and the bridges were the only means of connection and communication with the surrounding area. Not only that, but since the surrounding countryside is crossed by the Tiber, the Royal Palace and the Carpina, other crossing systems were necessary to join the banks of the waterways and allow greater ease of movement and traffic in the fertile plain that it crossed. the valley. In some cases, considering the costs of a bridge, we relied on the ferry boats, but the Fratta was quite lucky and, in its immediate vicinity, had safe and stable tolls in masonry or wood. The bridge over the Tiber was a masterpiece of engineering, technique and aesthetic taste. It rested on three arches, which constitute the coat of arms of the Municipality of Umbertide and, even after the demolition of the drawbridge of the Porta Saracina, it had not lost its beauty and grandeur. Two sturdy doors guarded its entrances and the small church of Carmelo, located above the central pillar of the valley, invited peace and prayer when the road was all slower. The year of its construction is to be found between 1571 and 1588, at the will of the "Company of the Madonna della Reggia and Madonna del Ponte", entrepreneur of the two aforementioned sites (5) . Another bridge, the one over the Reggia stream in front of the Collegiate Church, played an important role in the town's economy. It connected Montone, the entire plain below and the Borgo Superiore with the center of Fratta and was also open to heavy traffic of animals and wagons. Its structural conditions were precarious because it was all made of wood with the exception of the two masonry heads on which the beams rested. The passage presented some difficulties because the bridge was narrow and without banks and on several occasions the Reggia had the bad taste of giving a few pieces to the Tiber. The spending resolutions for the restoration work were recurring, so much so that on April 4, 1770 the City Council decided to build it from scratch. The work was entrusted to Giovanni Tomassini, a Swiss from Lugano who lived in Gubbio, for a hundred baiocchi. The entrepreneur was known to Fratta because the previous year he had renovated the facade and the interior of the church of San Bernardino to the satisfaction of those who had commissioned the work. The new, wider bridge had sturdy sides and was suitable for carrying greater loads. It offered all the prerequisites of comfort, stability and safety. In the last years of the century the Judiciary of Fratta launched the project for the construction of a second bridge over the Reggia, the one that was to connect the center of the town with the Collegiate Church through a nave of the church of San Giovanni. The bridge will be built in 1807, but the first projects and intervention plans date back to 1794. In the surroundings, then, there were secondary but equally important bridges, such as the bridge over the ditch of Lazzaro and the one over the Fonte Santa. The latter, completely rebuilt in 1799. Further north, on the Montonese road, there was an ancient bridge over the Carpina built since 1294. To these bridges outside the castle must be added those that directly linked the area within the walls with the outside, such as the Piaggiola bridge, which allowed to cross the moat and access the Porta della Campana, and the bridge over the Reggia which allowed access to the Borgo Inferiore (Piazza San Francesco area). The Rocca had a drawbridge that descended over the Reggia and put it in communication with the lawn in front of it. In 1787 it still existed and was used. A note dated 3 September, signed by the Municipal Secretary Giambattista Burelli, stated: “Mr. dr. Giuseppe Paolucci Camerlengo to pay Angelo Gigli paoli four for refurbishment of the drawbridge of the Rocca, which with receipt are forty baiocchi ”. The walls of the Castle The most natural and spontaneous defense system among the ancients was to surround the castle, the village or the city with a robust wall. Sometimes ditches filled with water, palisades or other similar devices were also used in order to curb the impetus of the enemies and immobilize them in front of the obstacle in order to hit them with greater ease and precision from above. The walls therefore were born with the first urban settlements and have developed and strengthened with them, following their historical evolution. On more than one occasion, particularly in large cities, their successive and concentric walls are evident documents of population growth and urban sprawl. The castle of Fratta had only one wall of walls, robust and compact and nature had also endowed it with the natural defense of the water of the Tiber river and the Reggia stream in the area of its confluence with the older brother. Its inhabitants had built an artificial moat in the short stretch free from water, making the castle a fortified islet, with stone edges, among the safest in the area for very long centuries. The maintenance and repair of the city walls was always a meticulous commitment for the inhabitants and administrators of all times, well aware that it was a priority asset, essential for the survival of the community. For the Fratta the part most exposed to the wear and tear of the corrosive pressure of the waters was the stretch along the course of the Tiber. On several occasions it had suffered damage and had recourse to repairs, but the flood of 1736 was particularly devastating. He dragged out 1,600 square feet of walls and four houses that stood on them. The appraisal, immediately prepared for the repair of the damage, established the total amount of expenses at 1,032 scudi. It was a high figure that the local community, alone, could not have met and the Pope was turned to for the granting of an extraordinary contribution. Clement XII declared himself willing to provide 500 scudi on condition that the other 532 provided the inhabitants. And so it was. Having found the money, the reconstruction machine started with the purchase of the necessary material and the preparation of the construction site. The contract for the work fell to Bartolomeo Ferrati of Rome (6) and the direction was entrusted to Cesare Francesconi della Fratta. The excavation of the foundations began on 15 September 1739. Some financing problems arose immediately because at the end of the year the Pope had not yet granted the promised contribution. The Defenders of Fratta approached the representative of the community in Rome, a certain Mariotti, to act as intermediary for the handling of the file. We do not know if the choice was happy, the fact is that Mariotti made it known that "... the Pope was in a very bad state and almost sent to the doctors", taking care to add that if he died it would be more difficult to get the contribution and advised to get busy quickly, as if in the Roman Curia there were no offices in charge of dealing with the commitments undertaken, regardless of the Pope's health. Mariotti certainly did not have those "entrances" that his fellow citizens attributed to him and for which they paid him and he suggested asking others what they had rightly asked of him. It often happens that when you need a favor, the person you are addressing, instead of giving us a hand, submerges us under a heap of thoughtful advice, thankfully free. One thing, however, got it right: Clement XII died on February 16, 1740. A few years later, Mariotti was replaced by Giacomo Guadagni, a more authoritative and introduced Abbot who moved with greater agility in the offices of the Quirinale. The papers do not tell us what happened to the Pope's contribution that certainly arrived, otherwise we would have found traces of increased taxes in subsequent years and also on the reconstructed walls a plaque was affixed with the inscription "Clement XII - Pontiff Maximus - MDCCXXXIX" ( 1739) which testifies to a direct economic intervention by the Pope. The building intervention gave stability and safety to our walls precisely in that stretch where the thrust of the current was greatest, at the beginning of the sudden swerve of about ninety degrees that the Tiber makes before passing under the bridge. The abrupt change of direction makes us guess the nature of the ground below at that point. The castle of Fratta rises on a resistant conglomerate base that forces the Tiber to deviate its course in an almost unnatural way. Its consistency, as well as ensuring stability to the urban center and its walls, protects the buildings and their basements from the infiltration of humidity typical of the most permeable soils. The notarial deeds relating to the sale of properties located along the walls describe in a precise manner their characteristics and the neighboring strip of land. All the houses with the front in Via Diritta, in the rear part, bordered the fence, the municipal skids and the walls. The fence was not attached to the houses, but was separated from them for logistical reasons. Between it and the back of the houses ran a strip of land that formed a street or path. Later, in the west of the castle, the path will become Via delle Petresche and then Via Spunta. The space between the fence and the walls constituted, on the other hand, the "municipal shito", publicly owned which, in the distant past, was used for military defense purposes. At the beginning of the century, however, construction began on this area, reaching as far as the walls. The four houses that the flood of 1736 demolished are clear proof of this. The following graph reconstructs the characteristics of the castle walls. The design was made on the basis of what the notary Filippo Maria Savelli, della Fratta affirms, on 12 March 1768 in his notarial deed relating to the sale of a house. Note: 1. It is the only reference we have about the existence of this inn. In all likelihood it is the one that will be managed by Romitelli in the following century. 2. In a letter dated June 24, 1758 it is said: "... the work of the new cut is carried out almost to an excellent end". 3. Between 1752 and 1758 five reminder letters were written which can be found in the Augusta Library in Perugia among the "papers of Pietro Giacomo Mariotti". 4. The genga is a limestone rock for which the expression is scientifically more correct than others to indicate a cliff. It is used in the report of the engineer Cristoforo Bartoli of 1791 and in a notarial deed of the notary Giovan Battista Burelli, also of 1791. 5. In 1571 the Depositary of the “Company of the Madonna della Reggia (see the book Revenue and Expenses 1565/1571) and of the Madonna del Ponte” paid for some materials taken to accommodate (prepare) the pylon on which the church will have to support. In the year 1588, another recording tells us that a painting already existing in the Majesty which was at the beginning of the bridge is brought to the said Chapel. On that day the Confessor reminds us that the Chapel was not yet finished. In fact, it does not appear even in the drawing by Piccolpasso, dated 1565. 6. The Roman master mason came with a team made up of two masons and two unskilled workers (apprentices). He perceived in all (daily) paoli 14.50 (equivalent to scudi 1.45, i.e. baiocchi 145) divided by him as follows: baj 75 for him, baj 25 for each bricklayer and baj 10 for each boy, for a daily total of 145 baiocchi. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide - Gesp, 2003 Il Tevere, i ponti, le mura del Castello IL SISTEMA ELETTORALE COMUNALE Al centro della vita democratica del tempo c'era un bussolotto che faceva girare le palle. Di esso abbiamo ampiamente parlato in un altro volume, al quale rimandiamo il lettore per evitare di ripeterci. Qui esporremo solo le procedure tipiche dell'epoca, avvertendo che quanto diremo è il resoconto del rinnovo del Bussolo del 17 luglio 1783: "Rinnovare il Bussolo" era sinonimo di "predisporre la lista virtuale" di coloro che avrebbero dovuto amministrare il pubblico bene per i due anni successivi. Alla fine di ogni biennio esso veniva "rinnovato", inserendo nella cavità delle palle di legno poste al suo interno, un foglietto con i nominativi degli uomini destinati all'incarico. Non si trattava di eleggere solo i Difensori, che duravano in carica quattro mesi, ma anche i Consultori della Sanità, un triumvirato del primo Ceto con incarico biennale; i Sindacatori (Sindaci Revisori), una coppia con incarico annuale; i Terminatori e Stimatori (Quasi sicuramente si trattava di persone esperte nei confini catastali e nelle valutazioni dei beni mobili e immobili. Dopo la metà del secolo lentamente scompaiono), un'altra coppia con incarico biennale; i Portinari, due custodi, uno per la porta sud e l'altro per la porta del Mercato, che restavano in carica due anni; i Sindaci, una coppia con incarico annuale. Per questo motivo le palle, tutte uguali nelle dimensioni, erano contraddistinte da un'etichetta che indicava la categoria dei nomi contenuti: "Difensori, "Sindaci", "Portinari", ecc. per essere individuate al momento del sorteggio. Ma seguiamo da vicino il rinnovo del Bussolo del 17 luglio 1783 per avere un'idea diretta e precisa della procedura adottata. Si doveva, prima di tutto, rinnovare la Magistratura, ossia i Difensori, la carica più importante, che aveva una durata quadrimestrale e gli Imbussolatori avevano perciò a disposizione sei palle, entro ognuna delle quali dovevano inserire il biglietto con una quaterna di nomi. Ogni Ceto o "Sfera" indicava i suoi. Dei quattro, uno doveva appartenere al primo Ceto, ed era di diritto Capo di Magistrato, gli altri tre al secondo. Nella prima votazione furono indicati: Giuseppe Paolucci, Vincenzo Martinelli, Mattia Massi ed Angelo Gigli. Questa quaterna, di cui Paolucci del primo Ceto sarebbe stato il Capo, fu scritta in un foglietto, chiusa dentro la palla contrassegnata con l'etichetta "Difensori" e imbussolata. A questi signori, quattro mesi di governo cittadino da scontare quando sarebbero stati estratti, non li toglieva nessuno. Si passò alla seconda quaterna seguendo la stessa procedura e furono indicati: Angelo Cristiani, Giovan Battista Guerrini, Giovanni Montanucci e Silvestro Martinelli. La terza quaterna dette il seguente esito: Giuseppe Bertanzi, Angelo Ciangottini, Filippo Legnetti e Vincenzo Iotti. Man mano che veniva definita una quaterna, e dopo aver compiuto le operazioni di rito, si imbussolava la palla. A questo punto il Bussolo conteneva già tre palle. La quarta votazione dette il seguente risultato: Giuseppe Cerboncelli, Vittorio Ceccarelli, Pietro Crosti e Maurizio Pucci. La quinta votazione sentenziò: Giovan Battista Burchi, Lorenzo Gigli, Ubaldo Perugini e Pietro Bruni. La sesta e ultima votazione indicò: Giovan Maria Criacci, Gabriele Dell'Uomo, Donino Passalbuoni e Antonio Martinelli. Ora nel Bussolo si trovavano tutte e sei le palle dei Difensori e ogni quadrimestre ne sarebbe stata estratta una che conteneva i quattro componenti della "Giunta" cui spettava la guida del Comune. Si passò alla designazione dei tre Conservatori della Sanità, tutti possidenti appartenenti al primo Ceto, che dovendo restare in carica due anni, come il Bussolo, non vennero imbussolati. Lo stesso criterio fu usato per i tre Terminatori e Stimatori e per i due Portinari. Le due coppie di Sindicatori, con incarico annuale, furono nominate, scritte sul foglietto, chiuse nella palla e imbussolate. A questo punto nel Bussolo c'erano otto palle che diventarono dieci con le due coppie di Sindaci. Le operazioni erano terminate ed il Bussolo, completamente rinnovato, conteneva dieci palle. Al suo interno fu inserito anche il foglio degli "Spicciolati", una lista di riserva, divisa per ceti, da usare nel caso in cui, al momento dell'estrazione della palla, uno dei nomi ivi compresi non fosse più in grado di accettare l'incarico o perché malato o passato a miglior vita. Le elezioni erano finite e per due anni tutti i principali ruoli del governo cittadino erano assicurati dentro le palle. Riflessioni "elettorali" I metodi con cui venivano scelti gli amministratori e gli altri titolari di incarichi importanti nella Fratta del 1700 non sono nemmeno lontani parenti del sistema elettivo attuale. Ci siamo espressi con termini quali "elezione" e "sistema elettorale" solo per usare un linguaggio di uso comune e perciò comprensibile a tutti. Non sarà sfuggito ai nostri lettori che non esiste il minimo accenno alla procedura con cui veniva eletto il Consiglio Comunale Generale. L’accenno non c'è, perché non l'abbiamo trovato. Ma si può ragionevolmente affermare che quel Consiglio fosse l'espressione delle indicazioni assembleari dei due Ceti, riuniti separatamente, come avverrà nel secolo successivo. Non si hanno notizie nemmeno circa la sua durata e il rapporto distributivo dei Consiglieri tra i due Ceti, ma è legittimo sostenere che esso durasse quattro anni e che i membri del secondo Ceto fossero in misura doppia di quelli del primo, come nel secolo successivo. Anche la proporzione tra i Difensori legittima un'ipotesi simile. Del resto in un sistema politico immobile, come quello dello Stato Pontificio, in cui il precedente costituiva prassi duratura per il futuro, non è da escludere che i meccanismi in vigore agli inizi del secolo XIX fossero gli stessi del secolo precedente. L’avvicendamento avveniva quasi certamente con sostituzioni di aliquote quadrimestrali, in modo che al termine della legislatura il Consiglio fosse completamente rinnovato. Pur nei limiti di una rappresentanza ristretta, il sistema era ingegnoso e finalizzato ad assicurare continuità e stabilità all'amministrazione del territorio. Le notizie sugli organi di rappresentanza sono comunque pochissime. Dati i tempi, era infatti superfluo trattare un argomento che si giocavano tra loro solo una ventina di famiglie. Il paragrafo precedente dedica un ampio spazio al resoconto della riunione consiliare del 17 luglio 1783, che si occupò del rinnovo del Bussolo. È una delle rare occasioni in cui il secolo, avaro di notizie politiche, diventa generoso. Prima ancora, i1 20 ottobre del 1743, ci fu un'altra importante riunione consiliare che offre molti spunti di riflessione. Il rinnovo del Bussolo, nella sua disarmante trasparenza e semplicità, dovrebbe aver creato non pochi problemi, litigi laceranti e destabilizzanti ricorsi. Si viveva, insomma, in un clima di incertezze e di sospetti anche perché, in assenza di una normativa precisa, ci si rifaceva alle usanze e alle disposizioni precedenti. Le une e le altre venivano invocate, quando faceva comodo, dai personaggi più abili e interessati. Le cose stavano arrivando ad un punto di non ritorno e nella riunione dell'ottobre 1743, il Consiglio nominò una Commissione paritetica, composta da tre Consiglieri del primo Ceto e da tre del secondo, per elaborare una nuova bozza di Regolamento sul rinnovo del Bussolo e su altri problemi, da sottoporre poi all'approvazione del Consiglio Generale. I poteri conferiti ai Commissari erano ampi e andavano dal ripristino delle prassi "passate", all'adozione di misure nuove da adattarsi "alle circostanze de presenti tempi". La Commissione, presieduta da Filippo Maria Savelli, era composta da Cesare Francesconi, Bartolomeo Petrogalli, Domenico Franceschini, Francesco Guerrini e Carlo Vibi. La bozza di Regolamento, riportata per intero alla fine di questo capitolo, i1 6 dicembre del 1743 era pronta e si presume che fosse sottoposta all'esame del Consiglio Generale nella riunione successiva. I sette capitoli di cui si compone, nel loro stile involuto e tra ardite contorsioni concettuali che fanno invidia a un'odalisca, denunciano molti aspetti del costume del tempo. Senza dubbio, ci sarà stata anche la necessità di maggiore trasparenza e di moralizzazione della vita amministrativa, ma certe sassate impietose, scagliate con troppo disordine, sono sospette e sorprendono non poco: "... perché attesa la scarsezza degli uomini intelligenti e capaci e la molteplicità delle persone meno idonee, ne avviene che il più delle volte fannosi risoluzioni poco profittevoli agli interessi pubblici... ". Possiamo concordare sulla "idoneità", dal momento che non tutti sono portati per la vita politica; meno sull'intelligenza che è una dote di più difficile lettura; quanto alla posposizione del bene pubblico al privato, è un problema di etica politica e non di attitudini o di intelligenza. La furbastria ha un albero genealogico lungo e ramificato ed in questo il `700 ha anticipato i tempi. Senza dire che un giudizio del genere, approvato dal Consiglio comunale, si ritorceva con effetto autolesionistico su se stesso ed in particolare sul primo ceto, costituito al massimo da quattro decine di famiglie e sul secondo che ne contava poche di più. Non sappiamo se quel regolamento si applicò veramente. Il resoconto del rinnovo del Bussolo, riportato nel paragrafo precedente, ad esempio, ne è la violazione palese a distanza di soli quarant'anni dalla sua adozione. In quella circostanza, tutte le indicazioni avvennero per "ballottazione", cioè per votazione consiliare, ed era proprio quello che esso vietava, affidando ad una Commissione ristretta di soli tre imbussolatori la scelta dei nomi, con l'obbligo strano di mantenere la massima segretezza. È chiaro che si sarebbe trattato del segreto di Pulcinella, anche in considerazione del fatto che il mercato delle persone "intelligenti e capaci" disponeva di pochi scampoli di rimanenza. L'introduzione di un accorgimento inutile sta forse a significare che 1'ufficializzazione delle quaterne dei Difensori o degli altri incarichi del biennio, sollecitava attese del turno "amico" o più "arrendevole" o comunque del momento più opportuno per effettuare poco commendevoli manovre. Così, affidandoci alla riservatezza degli Imbussolatori, si salvava la forma ma la sostanza rimaneva immutata, come spesso succede tra gli umani, e l'estrazione sarebbe diventata davvero una tombola. Il Regolamento, inoltre, dava per scontata una prassi che a distanza di due secoli appare poco chiara, quando affermava che i quattro Difensori dovevano essere "uno per Sfera". Nel lessico usato, sembra assodato che il termine "Sfera" sia sinonimo di "Ceto" ed i ceti che godevano del diritto elettorale attivo e passivo erano solamente due. Come mai le "Sfere" diventano quattro? L'unica spiegazione plausibile è riposta nel fatto che mentre la prima sfera era molto ristretta ed omogenea perché l'appartenenza richiedeva il solo requisito del "possesso", la seconda era più eterogenea in quanto agli Artisti appartenevano non solo gli artigiani, ma anche i commercianti e i professionisti (medici, chirurghi, farmacisti, veterinari, avvocati, notai, preti, ecc.). Non si può escludere, pertanto, che all'interno di questo Ceto una prassi condivisa e consolidata stabilisse che i tre Difensori spettanti appartenessero ad ognuna delle tre categorie costituenti la "Sfera". Un'altra constatazione che ci convince della non applicazione del nuovo Regolamento sta nel fatto che il Bussolo avrebbe dovuto contenere 17 palle, invece ne furono inserite solamente 10, e non figurano più alcuni incarichi importanti come quello di Ufficiale della Madonna SS.ma della Reggia. La nomina dei "salariati" aveva procurato molte "turbolenze" a causa delle raccomandazioni, un vezzo dalle lontane radici che qualcuno fa risalire alla nostra Religione che ha codificato il ruolo intermediario dei Santi presso Dio (N.d.R.: Avere qualche Santo in Paradiso) e sotto questo profilo occorre riconoscere che le nostre radici religiose sono lontane e resistenti. Per eliminare il vezzo delle raccomandazioni vengono dettate misure severe quanto inutili e inapplicabili poiché è difficile stabilire il limite tra la raccomandazione e la segnalazione dei titoli di capacità e di merito, richiamate dal Regolamento, se non si precisano i sistemi per documentarli. Tanto per finire ricordiamo che le disposizioni regolamentari stabilirono la possibilità di imbussolare "padre e figlio" e "due fratelli", purché in palle diverse "attesa la suddetta mancanza di persone capaci". Non si può certo dire che quei Signori Consiglieri mancassero di autostima. Del resto basta dare uno sguardo all'elenco dei Difensori per accorgerci che gli intelligenti e i capaci appartenevano solo a un paio di decine di famiglie. Adesso si capisce perché quelli bravi erano tanto pochi! RIUNIONE CONSILIARE DELLA COMUNITÀ PER DECIDERE SUL NUOVO BUSSOLO E CAPITOLATO RELATIVO In Dei Nomine Amen - Die 20 Octobris 1743. Convocatum et celebratum fuit publicum et generale Consilium per illustris Comm(unitatis) Insignis Terrae Fractae Perusiae more solito intimati cum interventu, et assistentia per Ill(ustris) Dom. Francisci Ghezzi Commissarii, in quo quidam Consilio interfuerunt infras(criptii)… Illu. Dom. Joseph de Sabelli Caput Officii Laurentius Martinelli Anselmus Donatuti Petrus Ant. Guerrini Ill. Dom. Philippus de Sabellis Franciscus Guerrini Carolus de Vibis Joseph Andreas Milanesi Dom. Franciscus Francisconi Joseph Matthias Cristiani Joseph Bernardinus de Homine Petrus Joseph Lestini Raimundus Rotelli Bartholomeus Petrogalli Caietanus Molinari Laurentius Gigli Philippus Roni Dominicus Franceschini Constantinus Pignani Augustinus Bettelli Franciscus Passalboni Carolus Ant. Francesconi Dominicus Paganelli ... de Consilio... et notum in eo habent ed illud totum representa ; et pro absen. si qui... promittentes. Et omissis aliis de voluntate reperiuntur infrascripta videlicet. Dom. Dominicus Franceschini in aringo eius med. ... dixit.... Intra. Vedendosi questo nostro Consiglio posto in molta confusione attesi i vicendevoli ricorsi fatti da diverse persone circa la Rinnovazione del Bussolo, numero dei Difensori, ed altre cose appartenenti a questo Consiglio, e non potendo fare a meno che questa Comunità non sia per risentirne gravi pregiudizi da questa discrepanza di voleri, sarei di sentimento pro bono pacis, ed in vantaggio del Pubblico et del Privato, che si eleggessero sei persone delle più capaci e dare a questi la facoltà di accomodare le differenze suddette; col darli anche l'arbitrio di rimettere in pristino molte buone e sagge disposizioni del nostro Statuto e rispettivamente de Signori passati Superiori, concedendoli anche la libertà di accomodare tali procedimenti alle circostanze dei presenti tempi e di fare insomma tutto ciò che li parerà opportuno per bon regolamento di questa Comunità con sottoporre poi alla Sag... questa loro... acciò si degni approvarlo e perché abbia la piena forza e debba essere osservato da tutti ed in tal modo credo che si darà fine alle liti e si rimetteranno gli animi in quiete, come tutti desiderano. Rimettendomi... [seguono due righe in latino]. A chi pare e piace di aprire il suddetto Aringo e di dare alli signori Difensori la facoltà di nominare sei persone tre della prima Sfera, tre della seconda in effetto suddetto, dia la palla bianca in favore, e a chi non piace, la negra in contrario. Tunc distribuitis et re... fuerunt reperta nota albe ri dece et nove, et unum nigrum... Post modum vigere... nominarunt... Cesare de Francescani, Bartholomeus Petrogalli, et Philippus de Sabellis, et Dominicus Franceschini, Franciscus Guerrini et Carolus de Vibis. Iterum de... A chi pare e piace di lor signori di approvare gli uomini nominati come sopra e dargli tutte le facoltà necessarie et opportune come sopra, dia la palla bianca in favore e a chi non piace, la negra in contrario. Tunc distribuitie e recollectis de more suffragia fuerunt reperta vota alba favorabilia viginta…" MODO DI FORMARE IL NUOVO BUSSOLO Capitolo I Primieramente, a tenore delle enunciate facoltà, si determina e stabilisce che essendo già determinata l'estrazione delle Palle degli Officiali di questa Comunità un mese prima che termini l'amministrazione delli Difensori estratti nell'ultima Palla, debba radunarsi il Consiglio nel modo e forma che dirassi in appresso ed ivi il Signor Capo d'Offizio dovrà nominare per primo un bussolatore uno della sua Sfera, il secondo e terzo Difensore un altro per ciascuno della sua Sfera, e dandosi il caso che alcuna delle persone nominate non fossero presenti al Consiglio, dovrà immediatamente mandarsi a chiamare da Donzelli ed in caso di legittimo impedimento dovrà nominarsi altro in suo luogo e, stabiliti che saranno gli imbussolatori, dovranno questi, doppo licenziato il Consiglio, rimanere in Palazzo col Signor Commissario e Segretario per formare il nuovo bussolo, quale dovrà rifarsi perpetuamente per soli due anni, sotto pena di nullità, e dovrà farsi di comune consenso, invocato prima l'aiuto dell'Altissimo e prestato il solito giuramento di prescegliere i più atti ed idonei, rimossa ogni privata passione e di tener segreta l'elezione fatta conforme costumasi e ritenuta convenientemente la facoltà al Capo Imbussolatore di prescegliere i Capi, in caso che il secondo e terzo imbussolatore non volessero convenire col primo e richiedessero che si ballottassero per voti le persone da eleggersi. Il Bussolo poi dovrà contenere sei Palle delli Difensori da durare ciascuna mesi quattro; una Palla delli tre Conservatori della Sanità o Consultori della Comunità da durare tutto il biennio; due Palle degli Officiali della Madonna SS.ma della Reggia, da durare un anno l'una; due Palle delli Sindacatori; altre due delli Stimatori Pubblici; altre due delli Portinari; due delli Sindaci, parimente da durare un anno per ciascuna, conforme si è sempre costumato, col fare anche i nomi de Spicciolati. Capitolo Il Delli Difensori e Conservatori della Sanità Dovranno in ogni palla imbussolarsi quattro Difensori cioè uno per Sfera delle persone più capaci e discrete e che possiedono qualche stabile di proprio, giacché nelle presenti circostanze non puol pienamente adempirsi la mente del nostro Statuto che determina che nessuno possa essere eletto Difensore che non possieda almeno 30 di Scovere, determinandosi ancorché oltre alla possidenza debba essere ancora unita la capacità, ad effetto, che siano ben regolati i pubblici affari, il tutto sotto pena della nullità, a tenore del medesimo Statuto. Si dovrà inoltre formare, come si disse, la Palla delli tre Conservatori della Sanità, o Commissari della Comunità, quali dovranno durare per fin che saranno compite le Palle delli Difensori, e questi dovranno sempre essere della prima Sfera, sotto pena di nullità, e persone non imbussolate se sia possibile in altri Offizi, la incombenza dei quali sarà di intervenire al Consiglio tutte le volte che saranno invitati, e di sopra intendere alla custodia delle porte in tempi di contagi e sospetti, di attendere alla restaurazione delle mura, ponti e fonti con l'assenso però dei Difensori, sotto pena a quelli che ricusassero di comparire al loro Uffizio d'uno scudo per ciascuna volta da applicarsi dal Signor Commissario, non essendo scusati dal legittimo impedimento dichiarandosi inoltre che non potranno gli Imbussolatori sotto la pena suddetta aggiungere alcuna persona al numero dei Consiglieri, né mutarle dalle loro Sfere e gradi ma solo sia lecito agli stessi Imbussolatori l'imbussolarsi per loro in caso di mancanza di persone. Capitolo III Delli Consiglieri particolari delli Difensori Per miglior provedimento degli affari pubblici si determina e stabilisce che ogni Difensore debba avere il suo Consigliere e questi debbano essere quelle persone medesime che sono stati Difensori nella Palla immediatamente antecedente, per essere essi meglio informati dei pubblici interessi e dandosi il caso che nella prima Palla che si estrae finito il Consiglio, uscisse per Difensore alcuno delli Difensori della Palla antecedente, in tal caso anche il suo Consigliere debba proseguire nel suo officio per altri quattro mesi, se pure questo accidente non si dasse in uno dei tre Conservatori della Sanità nel qual caso dovrà surrogarsi dalli Signori Difensori altro nel suo luogo. Il che dovrassi sempre osservare quando per accidente o per mancanza di Soggetti una delle persone fosse imbussolata in Offici contemporaneamente. L’incombenza poi per tutti suddetti Consiglieri sarà di dire il loro parere in tutti li consigli dopo che dal Segretario sarannosi proposti gl'affari da risolversi e non potranno consigliare fuori del luogo destinato e se prima non averanno prestato il solito giuramento de bene et fidate liber consulendo e se non volessero consigliare vi potranno essere forzati sotto pena d'uno scudo d'applicarsi come sopra, restando dopo di loro la facoltà alli Conservatori della Sanità di dire il loro parere approvando il sentimento di Consiglieri secondo le sarà dato dalla coscienza, sempre però prestando il suddetto giuramento, senza di cui non devrassi scrivere il sentimento e consiglio veruno. Capitolo IV Del modo di convocare e celebrare il Consiglio Perché attesa la scarsezza degl'uomini intelligenti e capaci e la molteplicità delle persone meno idonee, ne avviene che il più delle volte fannosi risoluzioni poco profittevoli agl'interessi pubblici, si determina e stabilisce a tenore delli statuti e disposizioni, che in tutte le occorrenze della Comunità debba convocarsi il Consiglio composto di dodici Persone ed inoltre con l'intervento del Signor Commissario, e questi saranno li quattro Difensori, li quattro Consiglieri, li tre Conservatori della Sanità, ed il Camerlengo del Pubblico e questo Consiglio avrà tutte le facoltà di risolvere, determinare, decidere e far tutto ciò che puol fare il Consiglio Generale fuorché in materia di nuove imposizioni, prezzi d'Abbondanza, introduzione di litigi ed altri gravissimi emergenti per i quali dovrassi convocare il Consiglio delle 42 persone, senza intervento del Signor Commissario a solo fine di ben digerire le materie d'importanza da discorrersi nel Generale Consiglio, e tutto ciò a tenore di diverse risoluzioni fatte nei Pubblici Consigli ed approvate dalli Presidi di Perugia fin dal 1620, come si raccoglie da libri dei suddetti Consigli e dallo Statuto rispettivamente a quali si rimanda. Per convocare poi e celebrare validamente il suddetto Consiglio si determina che il giorno avanti debbano per ordine delli Signori Difensori invitarsi dalli Donzelli tutti quelli che dovranno intervenire e dandosi l'accidente che qualcuno fosse legittimamente impedito, li Signori Difensori avranno la facoltà di surrogare un altro della medesima Sfera nel luogo della persona impedita il che parimente dovrà farsi tute le volte che nel Consiglio dovesse trattarsi dell'interesse particolare d'alcuna delle 42 Persone sopra nominate, non volendo che la persona interessata possa in nessun conto intervenire al Consiglio sotto pena di nullità del medesimo a tenore delle suddette statutarie disposizioni. Stabilito poi che debba farsi all'ora determinata il giorno seguente il Consiglio, dovrà la sera innanzi dalli Signori Difensori farsi dar ordine al Campanaro del Pubblico che suoni all'Ave Maria, senz'altro segno, mezz'ora prima dell'ora determinata per il Consiglio si diano dodici tocchi alla Campana del Pubblico, che sarà il segno della convocazione del Consiglio delli 12 lasciando nel solito stile il modo di convocare il Consiglio Generale, come costumasi di presente. In caso poi che le persone che dovranno intervenire al Consiglio delli 12 ricusassero d'intervenirvi all'ora determinata, non avendo legittimo impedimento da approvarsi dal Signor Commissario si determina e stabilisce che debbano essere puniti nella pena di uno scudo di moneta romana da applicarsi dal detto Signor Commissario, nella qual pena parimente incorreranno quelli che non avendo riguardo al luogo e alle persone ardissero discorrere temerariamente profferendo parole ingiuriose contro alcuno dei presenti in Consiglio, qual pena dovrà duplicarsi in caso che l'ingiuria fosse fatta ad alcuno delli Difensori, volendo che si discorra con tutta la modestia e solo degli affari pubblici nel luogo destinato e non altrove, tenuto conto di ogni umano rispetto, conforme ordina il suddetto Statuto al quale si rimanda. Attesa poi la suddetta mancanza di persone capaci si determina e stabilisce a tenore degli ordini ultimamente emanati da Mons. Enriquez Giud. Dep. della Sagra Consulta, che possano imbussolarsi due fratelli, padre e figlio d'una medesima casa, in diverse Palle però, e che questi nel Consiglio delli 12 abbiano unitamente il voto per non diminuire in modo alcuno il numero dei voti che dorassi sempre mantenere integro; determinando che nella ballottazione il partito s'intenda vinto per voti otto favorevoli e non altrimenti. Capitolo V Delli salariati Perché nel elezione di Medico, Chirurgo, Predicatori ed altri salariati sono in questa Comunità varie volte accadute varie turbolenze ed inconvenienti a cagione delle raccomandazioni procurate dai medesimi concorrenti, si determina e stabilisce che non possa essere ammesso alcuno a pubblici uffizi quando voglia impetrarli con loro commendatizie, ma si abbia solo riguardo a requisiti e meriti del concorrente, e perciò ne meno alcuno del Consiglio possa far pratica per unire li voti dovendo ciascuno votare a tenore de dettami della propria coscienza, avendo così altre volte decretato li Signori Superiori con lettere; a quali essi determinandosi in oltre che li salariati, dovendosi riproporre, si faccia due mesi prima che spiri l'anno dal giorno della loro elezione, acciò rimanendo esclusi possa la Commissione provvedersi d'altro soggetto che presti la debita servitù a se stessa ed agli abitanti del luogo. Capitolo VI Della rinnovazione di alcune pene Si stabilisce in oltre, che qualunque persona commettesse fraude in pregiudizio di privativa, che gode questo Pubblico nei suoi proventi, o de i detti loro appaltatori, possa e debba dal Consiglio de i 12, coll'attestato d'un testimonio degno di fede, procedere unitamente col Signor Commissario a privare il suddetto defraudatore di Medico, Chirurgo, Maestro di Scuola e d'ogni grazia e favore che potesse concedere questo luogo e ciò a onore di quanto anno altre volte stabilito li Signori Superiori, qual pena dovrà anche infliggersi contro quelli che senza legittimo impedimento e privi di sufficiente privilegio, vi ricusassero di accettare gl'Uffizi Pubblici, non essendo giusto che riceva benefizi da questa Comunità chi si mostra ingrato in servirla nelle sue occorrenze. Capitolo VII Del acompagno del Magistrato nelle pubbliche funzioni Si determina finalmente che in congiunzione, cioè in occasione, delle solennità dei nostri SS. Avvocati (Santi Protettori del paese), ed altre solite Sagre Funzioni debba sempre portarsi il Magistrato in Corpo a visitare le chiese consuete, ancorché sia sospesa quella ricognizione che era solita darsi in tal congiunzione, cioè occasione, e acciò a tenore del costume sin ora osservato e molto più perché non si manchi di prestare il debbito onore all'Altissimo e nostri SS. Avvocati e Protettori e in tal congiuntura debbano i salariati e Consiglieri necessariamente intervenire all'accompagno del Magistrato, assieme con gl'altri uomini della Comunità con abito e ferraiolo negro e con quella maggior decenza che li sarà permesso, altrimenti potranno essere rigettati indietro e puniti ad arbitrio del Signor Commissario e ciò per maggiore decoro del Pubblico e di tutto il Paese. Quali capitoli come sopra stabiliti approvati che benignamente saranno dalla Sagra Consulta, vogliamo che siano inviolabilmente osservati, né sia lecito ad alcuno il mutarli senza il preventivo assenso della detta Sagra Consulta e del Generale e Particolare Consiglio. In fede li abbiamo sottoscritti di nostro carattere adì 6 dicembre del 1743. Io Filippo Maria Savelli Deputato mano propria Io Cesare Francesconi Deputato ma. pr. Io Bartolomeo Petrogalli Deputato ma. pr . Io Domenico Franceschini Deputato ma. pr . Io Francesco Guerrini Deputato ma. pr. Io Carlo Vibi Deputato ma. pr. [Seguono poi sei righe che si riferiscono alla stesura del documento stilate da un notaio, quasi sicuramente il notaio Burelli, e datate 17 giugno 1794, cioè 51 anni dopo. Esse sono siglate con il timbro "IBBN" che è quello di Burelli (Iohannes Baptista Burelli Notaio)]. FONTI: “Umbertide nel secolo XVIII” di Renato Codovini e Roberto Sciurpa – Comune di Umbertide, 2003 Il sistema elettorale comunale

THE FRACTAL OF THE CINQUECENTO The rules of life in the Fratta of the 16th century Curated by Fabio Mariotti In addition to wrinkles and white hair, the accumulation of birthdays in itself proportionally restricts the feeling of depth of the centuries; if we then realize that the weaknesses of the men of half a millennium ago are substantially the same as today, the norms of the Statutes of the Fratta of 1521 seem to be placed just around the corner left behind us. There is nothing new in plain sight: fears, greed, selfishness, in perennial antagonism with the aspirations of security, justice, equality. And the willingness to turn a blind eye to the former and to the detriment of the latter: every era has its own compromises. Prostitution Although fornication is forbidden by its nature and by divine law, nevertheless the lesser evil is sometimes tolerated in order to avoid the greater one. Therefore we establish and order that in the castle or in the neighboring villages, according to common judgment, a home or refuge is identified for prostitutes who, for a set price, put themselves at the service and give their bodies to the pleasure of young people or others in need. Therefore prostitutes must exercise their service in this place assigned to them or in remote places outside the villages, far from the women's conversation areas, to protect huts and mats so that they cannot be seen. Therefore we establish and order that prostitutes who provide their service in the street, in the square, in the tavern or in other public places be sentenced to 20 soldi: credit can be given to any accuser, assisted by a witness worthy of faith, receiving in this case one third of the sentence. Adultery We establish and order that anyone who attempts to rape any woman, rich or poor, known or unknown, be punished; the penalty is 20 lire if the female is of good family and reputation; it is reduced to 10 lire if it is chat. On the other hand, anyone who actually commits adultery with married women against their will is punished with 25 lire, for each woman and for each time. In the event that the violation is committed - against their will - with spinster women, virgins, unmarried women, nuns or whimsical women, the penalty of 25 lire is added to the penalty established by the Statutes of Perugia: the penalty is halved if the female is consenting. The betrayal If a married man engages in carnal relations with a female in contempt of his woman and, similarly, if a married woman does with a man, in contempt and against the will of her husband, the man or woman will be punished or punished with 10 lire, whoever infringes these rules. In these cases, the testimony of the neighbors constitutes legitimate and sufficient proof. The riots If someone in the castle or in the villages incites or promotes a riot or a fight in order to disturb the quiet of the castle, involving up to 20 people or causing a murder or a beating, he will be subjected to the penalty of 10 lire, without prejudice to the subsequent sentence. by the podestà of Perugia. Anyone who causes disturbances in the council or general assembly, or plots and conspires, will be punished with 10 lire which must be paid immediately without trial before leaving the building. Anyone who provokes a protest or a riot such as to cause a scandal will be punished with 40 soldi. The podestà will have to carry out investigations to identify such wrongdoings, at least once a month; in case of negligence the podestà will have to pay a fine of 100 soldi. The night owls We establish and order that no one should wander around the castle and its surroundings after the third ring of the municipality bell which must be rung by the bell ringer in the evening as soon as the castle clock strikes one hour after dark; time must pass between the strokes to recite a miserere. A penalty of 5 soldi is applied to the bell ringer for every time he does not carry out his task; a penalty of 10 soldi is imposed on anyone who is caught walking around at night without lights. Anyone who has lights or embers lit before leaving the house is exempt from the penalty; also exempt are doctors or pharmacists, bakers who go to order bread, those who bring or withdraw bread from the oven, those who go to look for the midwife and also those who prove that the light has gone out due to the wind or in any case against the his will, or who watches over the fires that the neighbors sometimes light on the street or those who stay cool around the house in the evening. The inns No host or hotelier can house any straggler or rebel or condemned by the Holy Church or by the city of Perugia; may not allow gambling by lending cards, dice or board. The host will have to carry out the serving with the correct and stamped measures. We intend to prohibit hoteliers from accommodating more than 10 men without the authorization of the mayor; in suspicious times no man or woman can be hosted without this authorization, under penalty of 20 soldi. We order that no hotelier lodge an armed guest, unless he has first laid down his arms or refuses to do so; soldiers and officers of the Holy Church and of the city of Perugia who came to the castle by order of the commanders of the same are exempt. The bakers We order that the bakers of the castle must cook the bread brought to their ovens well and according to law, using competence and care. The fee for cooking is set at 2 soldi per bushel of bread; if this remuneration is increased, a penalty of 10 soldi will be imposed each time. If, due to a cooking defect, the bread is bad, the owner of the bread will be compensated. Each oven must be equipped with a chimney that comes out of the roof, to avoid possible fires. Bakers must keep the bread for sale placed in baskets covered with white placemats so that buyers get an appetite and not a stomach upset. Anyone who defrauds the sale will have bread confiscated and assigned, for God's sake, to the poor in the hospital of Santa Croce in Borgo di Sotto. The dead In order for women to behave with due honesty, we order that no female can or should leave the house to cry desperately for any dead, wherever they are, under the penalty of 40 sous. And no female can accompany the dead to the burial, following him weeping and disheveled. And no person, man or woman, is to despair over the grave after the dead have been taken to church and buried and in later times. Anyone who is able to prove such an accusation will receive a third of the sentence, provided they have a trustworthy witness. The corruption To ensure that those in public office have clean hands, we establish and order that no public administrator, in the performance of his function, tries to put any amount of money in his pocket, or behaves with fraud or malice or tries to barter. the benefits granted or forcibly demand or spontaneously receive rewards. Anyone who does not respect these rules will have a penalty equal to four times the amount he has defrauded, traded or illegally earned. Anyone guilty of these crimes will never be able to hold offices again; his crimes must be reported to the public opinion by the auctioneer in all places frequented by the fraudster. The hoarders It is our will to curb the greed and avarice of many people who study with all their ingenuity to accumulate goods (to the displeasure of God and the damage of the neighbor, not satisfied and satisfied with their share) by hoarding wheat and other food to be able to resell when they have increased in value. For this reason we establish and order that no one plots or plots to buy food in this castle and its surroundings and, removing them from common use, causing famine. For each accumulated state a fine of 20 soldi will be applied. Anyone who will allow these hoarders to be unmasked, accusing them, will receive a third part of the sum as a reward. Leprosy In the Old Testament it is written that those infected with leprosy must be segregated from others. So we establish and order that if someone is infected with leprosy the defenders of the castle must inform him or have him informed, with charitable and polite ways, that he is required to move away from the castle and its villages by going to live separated from everyone or in a leper colony. If the leper accepts the invitation, it is better; if, on the other hand, he refuses to leave within an hour, he is advised by the podestà that he must leave the castle within 10 days under the penalty of 5 lire; if he has not left after this deadline, the invitation to leave is renewed within 5 days, under the penalty of 10 lire; if he has not left after this deadline, he is granted another day, under the penalty of 20 lire. If he does not obey, he will have to pay out 20 lire and will be thrown out of the castle door, by popular acclaim. Modesty It is evident that in these modern times honesty has returned to heaven and shame has abandoned even the old ones: in fact, the shameful parts are shown and exposed without respect for anyone, not even for virgins and married women, and with greater insistence by those who have more abundance; and this happens in various places but in particular on the Tiber, in the areas frequented by people. To remedy this filth, we establish and order that those who dare to expose themselves without underwear or other honest cover in the water, swimming at least, to the "stone" or "patollo" along the stretch of Tiber that goes from the Calbi mill to be punished with 5 lire. to the greppo of Cristoforo. Those under the age of 12 and those who jump into the water to save someone who is about to drown are exempt from the sentence. (To facilitate the reading the rules have been reported from the vernacular in the current Italian) Sources: “The rules of life in the Fratta of the '500” are taken from the “Statutes of the Fratta dei Figliuoli di Uberto (Umbertide) of 1521 "(B. Porrozzi, Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1980). They were published in the Historical Calendar of the Municipality of Umbertide - 1st edition - 1992. All the historic calendars of the Municipality of Umbertide can be found in Pdf format on the institutional websites: www.comune.umbertide.pg.it / www.umbertideturismo.it Le attività economiche La Fratta di Cipriano Piccolpasso Le regole di vita nella Fratta del Cinquecento Le cariche pubbliche Artisti ed opere d'arte Chiese, conventi e il miracolo della Madonna della Regghia I Fanfani di Fratta Gli Statuti della Fraternita di Santa Croce Le regole di vita nella Fratta del Cinquecento La Fratta by Cipriano Piccolpasso Curated by Fabio Mariotti Cipriano Piccolpasso was born in Casteldurante (today's Urbania) in 1524. He began to work as a military architect and was a master of fortifications; from the country of origin it passed to Rimini, Ancona, Fano, Spoleto. Passionate about ceramics, he decided to return to Casteldurante where he distinguished himself as a creator of art majolica and one of the most refined decorators in the sector. Here he opened a factory which soon became famous and which trained numerous workers who later became famous. Author of various works of various kinds, he owes his fame as a writer above all to the treatise “The three books of the potter's art” (1548) in which he illustrates the secrets of the workshop of making ceramics. Here are explained in detail the stages of the production of ceramic products (clay treatment, shaping, firing, glazing, decoration ...), the different construction techniques, the tools used, as well as the different doses of the mixtures and colors. The manuscript is also enriched by autographed plates that report in great detail the decorative types of Durantine widespread in that period (trophies, grotesques, cerquates, ...) and by drawings that illustrate various stages of processing and the fundamental tools of the potter. The treatise, which always remained in Casteldurante first and then in Urbania, became famous starting in 1758, when it was mentioned by Passeri in his book on the history of the majolica of Pesaro and its surroundings. Between 1857 and 1879 it was published at least three times and on 10 January 1861 it was purchased on behalf of the South Kesington Museum (now Victoria and Albert Museum) in London where it still stands today. Piccolpasso died in Casteldurante on 21 November 1579 and was buried in the local church of San Francesco. Cipriano Piccolpasso was for a certain period of time deputy supervisor of the fortresses of Perugia. In this capacity he was sent, in 1565, to visit the state of the fortresses of the castles dependent on that city to ascertain their military potential and then report them. On this occasion he was also at Fratta, he visited the castle walls and the Rocca, making two drawings, one of the perimeter of the walls and a view of the entire castle seen from the south. Piccolpasso came from the Apennines and was almost at the end of the journey, which began in Perugia on April 12 and ended on June 21, 1565. We report his travel notes in which he noted all the steps and the various expenses incurred. Everything is relative to the last week, in which period he was also in Fratta. Piccolpasso reports news on the perimeter of Fratta "La Fratta di Perugia turns rods 138", meaning that the perimeter of the castle walls, measured with the rod used in Perugia (5 meters long), was about seven hundred meters. To make this measurement he used an instrument called "il Bossolo" and also explains how it was used and the inconveniences that can happen if you don't know how to use it. It also gives us information on the distances between Fratta and the neighboring villas and towns Borders of the Fratta of Perugia: Tramontana to the west Città di Castello X miles away, by mile I boundaries; Montone III miles away, for 1/2 mile border; Montalto I miles away, for borders 1/2 miles; Monte Migiano 2 - 1/2 miles away, for borders 1 miles; Monte Castello 3 miles away. Ponente a Mezzogiorno Preggio XII miles away; Castel Rigone far away from Miles XIII. Noon in the Levant Perugia XII miles away; Assisi away XX miles. Levante to Tramontana Gubbio distant XII miles; La Serra and Civitella miles away II. Piccolpasso then goes on to give us the news about Fratta and its inhabitants. The description he gives of the town and its people, compared with that of other cities - even close to us - is among the most beautiful of all. The extremely favorable impression he gave of this town overlooking the Tiber ("like a very clear lake"), with its well-cultivated countryside, with the skilled artisans at work in the shops makes us think with curiosity about the images he saw in this late spring of 1565 and to the life of our ancestors four and a half centuries ago. And, proud of the Frattegiani of the sixteenth century, we are grateful to Cipriano Piccolpasso who was able to describe its fundamental characteristics so well. We faithfully and proudly report his report on Fratta, only by placing it in a more fluent language than the sixteenth-century one he used. “La Fratta has about eighty families. This is a small but nice place where it is very pleasant to stay and has a nice view. It has the Tiber on the west side, like a very clear lake (remember that the dam under the bridge significantly raised the water level), but harmful and of great danger to the place because, if no measures are taken, in a short time, such as he has already started to do, he will take the whole place away (evidently he acted in time if this did not happen!). The men of this country are diligent, solicitous and shrewd because, working their small territory incessantly, they make it bear fruit as an extensive countryside and a very large place. Here we work very well in building arquebuses and auction weapons. The walls, although ancient, are of solid and very sturdy material, but everywhere, above them, there are houses. The fortress is surrounded by large walls and has a tower about one hundred feet high. They have no cattle or pastures. There are no weapons of any kind here (1) " Expenses incurred account - For a dinner in Sassoferrato baiocchi 10 - To those whom I will help to measure baiocchi 30 - For the horse for the Fratta with the boy baiocchi 25 - To dine in Segello and refresh the horse baiocchi 50 - For a dinner at Fratta with the boy and the baiocchi horse 35 - For the horse for Castello baiocchi 30 - For dinner and dinner at Castello baiocchi 20 - For dinner and dinner at Castello baiocchi 20 - To those whom I will help to measure the baiocchi walls 30 - For the horse for the Fratta baiocchi 30 - For dinner and dinner at the Fratta baiocchi 30 - To those who will help me to measure baiocchi 10 - For the horse to Perugia baiocchi 30 - And more made to give to the family of Messer Paulo, said Messer Gherardo soldier of fortress for the 50 (1) Cipriano Piccolpasso - The plants and portraits of the cities and lands of Umbria submitted to the government of Perugia - Ed. Passetto and Petrelli - Spoleto - 1963. Text published on the Historical Calendar of Umbertide 2003 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2003 Map of Fratta by C. Piccolpasso (1565). The three city gates are clearly visible: the "Porta castellana" to the west for C. di Castello; the "Porta senza nome" in today's Piaggiola for Montone and the State of Urbino; the "Porta Romana" at noon for the current Piazza S. Francesco and Perugia. It can be seen that the Fratta was then completely surrounded by the waters of the Tiber and the Reggia stream. Drawing of the Fratta by C. Piccolpasso (1565) Above, view of Casteldurante (today Urbania) by C. Piccolpasso. Below, cover of the book by C. Piccolpasso on the art of the potter (1548) La Fratta di Cipriano Piccolpasso I Fanfani di Fratta Economic activities curated by Fabio Mariotti The weavers There was an intense craft activity in Fratta, which took place inside many houses: the work of looms to weave the cloth (cotton, hemp, linen), of the reticellai and embroiderers in general, aimed at private citizens and to the brotherhoods for their linen needs in the church. From some documents of these lay associations we find for the first time in Fratta a particular way of working fabrics, called "alla moita" (later used up to the whole of the eighteenth century). With this expression "working at the moita" it was meant that the finished product went half to the owner of the hemp, linen, cotton and half to the person who had done the work, as a reward. Payment, of course, could also be made in cash, which was always preferred. Hemp and flax, produced in the Fratta countryside in quantities satisfactory to the needs of the population, were processed in the houses in a purely artisanal way. Hemp (as well as linen), also called "accia", was first unraveled and then "cured". The unraveling consisted of a first, superficial combing with which the upper part called "il capeccio" (it carried flowers and seeds) was removed from the plant, which was not used for weaving. With this first coarse combing, even the smoothest part of the plant was separated, which was then used to package secondary products (bales for wheat, harnesses for transporting weights, etc.). Flax (like hemp) was tied in thirteen-pound bundles. The one that still had the "capeccio" was worth less than the "scapecciaato" one as it had undergone the unraveling. After this operation, the product was put to macerate in a well of water, then a second combing was carried out which gave the best fiber with which the fabric was manufactured for the finest, most valuable and requested cloths (tablecloths, sheets , linen in general). In the registers of the brotherhoods and in the inventories found in the notarial deeds of the municipal archive there is evidence of a rather singular fact: the big bags used in hospitals as mattresses were made with linen, considered precious. Inside they contained straw and dry leaves, the cheapest material that could be found. This gives an idea of the mentality of the time for which it was not at all scrambling to enclose the humblest material in linen. The trade in scythes Large production of sickles in Fratta, in the sixteenth century, both common that were used to harvest wheat ("ad secandum granum"), and of the "necessarium" type, that is used for crops in general (rye, barley, hay). therefore large trade organized by individuals or groups that from April to June of each year (but also in the other months) dealt with this activity. The operations of steel purchase, production, finishing, transport, sale of the finished product were based on the utmost seriousness and correctness between the parties, who always resorted to a notarial deed. The copy of which also served as a transport document during the journey and was shown to the authorities of the places crossed asking for information on the goods (it was the accompaniment of that time). At the beginning of the sixteenth century the most qualified group in the trade of scythes was formed by Pietro Paolo Tempesta together with Simone di Antonio called "il Guercio", Sante di Antonio, Bernardino del fu Renzo, Paolo Bartoli, Bernardino di Iacopo Cortoni known as "Fallature" and Antonio del fu Mattiolo. In April 1511 they bought five thousand scythes, ordering hundreds of pieces from each blacksmith's shop. Among others, the brothers Giovan Battista, Michelangelo and Gabriele, sons of Francesco; Warrior of Matteo Ridolfo Alberti, Vico of mastro Nicola, Giliotto of mastro Filippo and his brothers. Two or three people work in each workshop and when they have to deal with orders for several thousand pieces, they join together, aided by the "art of blacksmiths" corporation which gives them the necessary assistance for the purchase of raw materials. and for sale. Buyers placed orders in April or early May, delivery took place between the 20th and 24th of this month. Rome and the Maremma were the main destinations, present in every contract, but also "Tuscia" (southern Tuscany) and the castle of Sarteano (just south of Chiusi). The buyers always claimed that the scythes were made to perfection (we always find the phrase "ad usum merci et legalis magistris fabrij ferrarij"). They were tied in bunches of one hundred pieces and transported by horses or mules, sometimes owned by the blacksmiths themselves. The payment, by the month of June, was usually completed in Fratta. As in all contracts of the time, a penalty was established for the party who did not fulfill the written obligations. A notarial deed dated 25 April 1524 provided for an original one. The blacksmith Arcangelo Bavaglioni sells three hundred scythes for twenty-three florins, including transport. The buyer, Cecco del fu Carlo, undertakes to pay the price by the month of June with the agreement that, failing that, he should give the blacksmith Arcangelo, as a penalty, a plot of land with the word "Pagini", up to the competition of the amount due. The arquebusiers In addition to the blacksmiths, united in various companies and famous throughout central Italy, who produced among other things thousands of scythes a year to be sold in the Roman countryside and the Maremma, there were also manufacturers of firearms. They can be considered specialized blacksmiths, because they were successful in this job even though they did not have today's machines to turn the various pieces; they did everything by hand and in an extremely precise way. Various documents contain information on the sale in Fratta of both arquebuses, long weapons, shoulder or easel weapons, and the "scppietti", that is, short weapons. There is also news on accessories: the "powder" and the "flasca", which we think were gunpowder and its container. On 21 December 1510 these artisans sold five hundred arquebuses, the value of which was two gold ducats each. The weapons had to be delivered by March of the following year by the arquebusiers Giovanni Folcantoni, Bonaventura Pulicardi and Sebastiano Brelli, all from Fratta. They, considering the holidays, therefore had to produce five or six arquebuses a day which, given the total manual skill of the work, is certainly a remarkable productivity. Such a large commission also makes it clear how these "artillery" works qualified the activity of these masters of art at a regional level. The deed of sale was drawn up by the notary Paolo Martinelli in the castle of Civitella dei Miuletti [?], Where Raniere dei Ranieri, a noble from Perugia, lived. Buyers are Pier Luigi dei Farnensi and ser Michele Pier Ventura, from Lugnano: they undertake to pay half the amount, that is five hundred ducats, upon delivery (March 1511) and the same amount in mid-August (the nobleman Raniere dei Ranieri guarantees the payment). The buyer ser Michele di Pier Ventura gives a security of fifty gold scudi to be calculated as an advance. The sellers say they will be able to deliver a third of the five hundred arquebuses by the end of January and the remaining month by month, until the delivery is completed in March. In a document dated 12 March 1522 we find a "fidem facio" (I trust) granted by Giovanni del fu Fioravanti, a Perugian citizen living in Fratta, to the blacksmith Sebastiano di Gabriele. It is a guarantee that the first offers to the second, before the notary Marino Sponta who draws up the deed, regarding the commitments that he will want to make from any person or association in building arquebuses, "crackles" and any other kind of "artillery". Sebastiano is therefore authorized to make any notarial deed relating to his work, under the guarantee of Giovanni. Another document dated May 10, 1586 concerns the repair of an arquebus which had a "cracked chest". The owner of the weapon is a certain man from the castro di Danciano (Val di Pierle) and the blacksmith repairer is a certain master Angelo who has a workshop in Fratta. It seems that the arquebus was broken in the "war of Siena" (1554-1555). Cipriano Piccolpasso, deputy superintendent of the fortresses of Perugia, also talks about our arquebusiers. He was sent in 1565 to visit the state of the fortresses of that city and was therefore also in Fratta. In his report he writes among other things: "... Here we work very well with archebugi et weapons auction ". But then he adds:" ... There are no weapons of any sort. " and hid our hand? The shopkeepers Francesco di Cristofano He was "Spetiale", that is a seller of spices but also of medicines, almonds, barley, torches for lighting, candles, "turpentine", white spirit and various spices. These shops, in addition to being "spetierie", were also called "aromatic", perhaps because the predominant goods in them were those products that came from the "new world", discovered by Christopher Columbus about forty years earlier. Francesco the apothecary left us several accounting records between 1530 and 1533. Fabrizio He too was an apothecary, who lived towards the end of the century. We find records of it in the years 1595 and 1596, when he sells wax, "facole" and apothecaries for the sick in a hospital in Fratta. Bernardino Cibo He had a grocery store. We have news of it in the years 1515 and 1528. Bano de Cibo In 1538 he had a shop, unspecified. It belonged to the Cibo family, one of the most important in Fratta. Giomolo In 1539 he sold "aguti" (ie nails), wax, oil and more. Perinelli In 1590 it had an "aromataria". Felice Manfredi He ran an "aromataria" in the years from 1590 to 1595. His shop was in via Regale (today's via Cibo). Ruggero Burelli In 1590 it has an "aromataria" and in 1595 we find news of it in a document in the notary Curtio Martinelli. He is the son of Tolomeo Burelli. Orfeo Burelli In 1590 he had an "apoteca", that is, a shop. He is the son of Francesco Burelli and lives in a house he owns. Gasparino Haberdashery. We find it in 1572 In addition, there were other shops in Fratta: two butchers and two ovens. Fairs and markets In the sixteenth century, when a villa or castle in the Perugian territory wanted to set up a trade fair, it had to ask the authorities of Perugia for permission, then pay an annual tax to this city. The villa or castle in turn recovered the money from those who attended the fair. Fratta was an exception. Since the fifteenth century it had been exempted from this obligation by the Pope of the time, so whoever came to its annual fair in the first days of June did not tax. It was called "free fair", it brought a greater influx of merchants, therefore a greater influx of wealth which benefited all citizens. The annual fair was that of Sant'Erasmo and lasted from 1st to 4th June. In 1506 we find a "Brief" by Pope Julius II who reconfirms the exemption from taxes and adds to the "free fair of Fratta" another six days to the four granted in 1444 ("said fair of St. Erasmus may last up to ten of said June"). In 1532 the duration will be increased to seven days. In 1537 the Perugian magistracy removed all the markets that were held in its countryside; he made an exception for Fratta and allowed them to continue on a weekly basis here. This was confirmed by Pope Paul III on November 4, 1537. From April 6, 1541, the tax exemption granted for the fair was also extended to weekly markets. The day was, like today, Wednesday. In 1542 the exemption was reconfirmed by Cardinal Sforza and in 1547 by Cardinal Crispo, Apostolic Legate for Umbria. A huge number of people attended the fair from nearby villas and castles. Many people also came from Tuscany, passing mainly through the Pierle valley and the Niccone valley. At the fair they sold livestock, agricultural products, fabrics, plates, vases and ceramic objects of the potters of Fratta, agricultural tools produced by blacksmiths. There are two places of sale: the municipal lawn (the "meadow below") at the end of the bridge over the Tiber and the Sant'Erasmo market, now Piazza Marconi (the "meadow above"). A huge cattle fair took place in the municipal lawn. In the market of Sant'Erasmo cereals and all other edible kinds were sold, as well as handicraft products. The early June fair continued until the mid-1960s, while our weekly Wednesday market has more than six centuries of history. Drawings by Adriano Bottaccioli published in the 2003 Umbertide Calendar Photo by Fabio Mariotti from the Historical Photographic Archive of the Municipality of Umbertide Sources: "Calendar of Umbertide 2003" - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2003 "Umbertide from the origins to the sixteenth century" - Roberto Sciurpa - Ed. Petruzzi Città di Castello - 2007 Ancient frame. Drawing by Adriano Bottaccioli Ancient scythes. Drawing by Adriano Bottaccioli Piazza S. Francesco (1930s). In the 16th century it was the seat of the blacksmith shops Ancient weapons. Drawing by Adriano Bottaccioli Street vendors in Piazza Mazzini in the early 1900s Via Cavour and Piazza Marconi (1930s). In the '500 Mercatale di Sant'Erasmo Le attività economiche Public offices curated by Fabio Mariotti The authority Authority of the government of Perugia, also called commissioner, was the representative of the Roman state within the community and had some powers that did not directly affect the administration of public affairs. He was always a foreigner, a "foreigner", as they said, that is, not a citizen of the Roman state. He was allowed to bring with him the notary, two servants (they had to have livery), a horse and, of course, his wife and children. In addition to the tasks of representation, which kept the community of Fratta united in Perugia, its "dominant city", he was allowed to remove from the agenda of the council meetings everything that, in his opinion, could harm the interests of the city of Grifo and the ecclesiastical state. The term of office was variable, depending on the contingent reasons of Perugia. Chancellor Notary of power, who followed in the movements, remained in office for the time of his "vicariate". He was involved in the drafting, on his own books, of everything that concerned the work of the authority, both in relation to the communities where they resided, and in relations with Perugia. The chancellor (or ordinary judge) also kept the volume of the "trials" that he and the authority held in the administration of justice. The defenders Authorities of Fratta, they were the highest representatives of the community, they decided on what to do for the positive development of public affairs and the good living of the population: they combined the powers of today's mayor and the municipal council. They brought in the council meetings the topics to be discussed and on which to vote, with the endorsement of power. The defenders were four, they remained in office for four months. Considered "officials" of the community, they were chosen from among the "bookies" of the castle, that is, people who had real estate registered in the "Cadastre". The three above the guard There were three "officers" who supervised the military apparatus of the castle, that is, the safety of all the inhabitants. They remained in office for four months. The four councilors Persons in charge of advising defenders on matters to be discussed in the council. They were also considered "officials" of the community and remained in office for four months. The camorlengo He was considered the "official" with the task of keeping the accounts of the community. He paid the salaries and expenses, collected the income and various annuities. The office of camorlengo (or chamberlain) lasted four months. These were the twelve most important people for the life of the community, summing up in them the civil and military power. They alone were part of the secret council (or of the twelve). Photo by Fabio Mariotti from the Historical Photographic Archive of the Municipality of Umbertide Sources: "Calendar of Umbertide 2003" - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2003 "Umbertide from the origins to the sixteenth century" - Roberto Sciurpa - Ed. Petruzzi Città di Castello - 2007 The town hall in the 1920s The seal of the Defenders of Fratta 1905 - Piazza Umberto I (now Piazza Matteotti) - 1918 Artists and works of art curated by Fabio Mariotti There have been many, and some of great prestige, the artists who have worked in Fratta in this century. Bernardino di Betto (Pinturicchio) In 1502 the observant Franciscan friars of Santa Maria della Pietà ordered a work from the Perugian painter Bernardino di Betto, known as "il Pinturicchio" (1454-1513). The painting was done on the main facade of the church, above the entrance portal, in the shape of a lunette. It is called the "Lunette of motherhood". It represents the Madonna with Child in her arms and two angels on either side. Also in 1502 the Franciscan friars of Santa Maria commissioned a large painting from Pinturicchio, a pupil of Pietro Vannucci from Perugia, which was to represent the "Coronation of the Virgin". Pinturicchio performed the work admirably. The painting was stolen by Napoleon's soldiers in 1809 to be transported to France. This did not happen and the work stopped in Rome. Subsequently the Roman curia proposed to the Franciscan friars of Fratta the purchase of the painting and they sold it to the Vatican for five hundred scudi. It was the favorite painting of Pope John Paul II under which he often received heads of state and illustrious guests. In its place, in the church of Santa Maria di Umbertide, a photographic reproduction of the same size has been placed. Luca Signorelli In the first months of 1516 Luca Signorelli from Cortona came to Fratta to paint the "Deposition from the cross". The painting had been commissioned from him by the Confraternity of Santa Croce. The painting, on wood, was placed on the wall behind the main altar of the original and small church of the same name. It was only in 1612 that the still existing wooden exhibition was built by Pietro Lazzari of Sant'Angelo in Vado. Signorelli painted three predellas below the picture and, as can be seen from the records of the brotherhood, also a "top", that is a "Pietà" in the shape of a lunette that dominated the whole. All traces of the latter have been lost since the end of the sixteenth century. Black Alberti On 11 January 1523 the Conventual Franciscan friars of Fratta (they had the convent in the Borgo Inferiore, now Piazza San Francesco) ordered the sculptor Nero Alberti, of Borgo San Sepolcro, a wooden statue, four feet high, depicting Saint Anthony of Padua. , for their church. Eleven florins paid for the work. The other artists In 1556, the painter Marino da Perugia painted a "Madonna in relief" with angels around for the church of Santa Croce. The work was paid to him for twenty florins, twelve soldi and eight denarii. Also the brotherhood of Santa Croce, in 1557 commissioned the painter Vittorio da Montone to create frescoes depicting Jesus Christ and St. Joseph for the "new chapel" of the church, which had recently been slightly enlarged. He was paid with more than twenty florins. From the registers of the brotherhood of San Bernardino we finally learn that in 1596 master Antonio was commissioned by the brothers to make the design of the main altar of the church. It means that during the second restructuring works, which took place between 1554 and 1555, the high altar had not yet been built, just as the large picture of the "Last Supper" above the altar had not yet been painted, executed in 1602. by Muzio Flori . Photo Fabio Mariotti Sources: "Calendar of Umbertide 2003" - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2003 "Umbertide from the origins to the sixteenth century" - Roberto Sciurpa - Ed. Petruzzi Città di Castello - 2007 Le cariche pubbliche The lunette by Pinturicchio on the facade of the church of Santa Maria della Pietà The entrance portal with the lunette The coronation of the Virgin. On the right, the photographic reproduction in the church of Santa Maria The Deposition from the Cross by Luca Signorelli. On the right in the precious wooden exhibition The San Rocco by Nero Alberti in the Museum of Santa Croce Church of San Bernardino. The last supper of Muzio Flori Artisti ed opere d'arte Church of San Francesco. Wrought iron gates made by the blacksmiths of Fratta Churches, convents and the miracle of the Madonna della Regghia curated by Fabio Mariotti The churches In the 16th century Fratta, with a population of less than five hundred inhabitants, there were more than a dozen churches. Chapel of Santa Maria di Castelvecchio At the bottom of the Piaggiola, it was also known as the church of Santa Maria dei Meriti. It had its own hospital which was joined, in 1411, by the hospital of Santa Croce. Santa Maria della Regghia Octagonal in shape, commissioned in honor of the Madonna del miracolo (1556), it was begun in 1560 and completed at the end of the century (1598) with the original dome then replaced in 1612. An image of the primitive structure is visible in the painting by Bernardino Magi ( 1602), in the church of San Bernardino. Santa Maria della Pietà In the Borgo Superiore, or Castelvecchio, it was officiated by the Franciscan friars of Santa Maria dell'Osservanza who lived in the adjoining convent. It was built in 1481. Sant'Andrea In the Borgo Superiore, we have news of it since the year 1146. It was located on the place where (1860-1870) the old hospital of Umbertide was built. Our Lady of Carmel On the first east pillar of the bridge over the Tiber, enlarged and modified, a small church had been built, dating back to around 1570, because it does not appear in the 1565 drawing by Cipriano Piccolpasso. It was dedicated to the Madonna del Carmelo, whose feast was celebrated on the 15th in August. Sant'Erasmo It is located in the "mercatale", the space where the markets were held (today Piazza Marconi). Currently it is no longer visible because a house has been built there. On the ground floor, however, you can appreciate the structure of an ancient crypt, dating back to the 11th century. The church had many real estate properties, including the adjoining hospital. The first news dates back to 1145. Sant 'Antonio It existed since 1374 and was in the Borgo Superiore. On 27 February 1556 it was visited by the episcopal vicar Don Giuseppe Sperelli who found it "well decorated but damp". In fact it was between the Piaggiola and today's Piazza Marconi, subject to the floods of the Tiber. Holy Cross It did not have today's dimensions, which it assumed from 1632 to 1644. The original church was much smaller and more backward than the one we see today. We have the first news in 1338. It belonged to the brotherhood of the same name. St. Augustine It was annexed to a convent of the order of the hermits of Sant'Agostino. It was built in 1374 at the end of today's Via Leopoldo Grilli (adjacent to the Migliorati pastry shop), so it was often flooded by the Tiber. The friars owned land. Saint Francis Built starting from 1299, it was in the Lower Borgo, next to the small church of Santa Croce. It was annexed to a convent of friars which had received various bequests in the middle of the century. In 1530 the chapel of San Rocco was still missing, to the left of the central nave. San Bernardino Also in the Lower Borgo, it belonged to the Confraternity of the Good Jesus which owned its own hospital adjacent to it. In 1550 the works for the enlargement of the church began (first restructuring). In 1558 the brotherhood built the bell tower. St. John Baptist It is the first church contained within the castle walls. Its construction and that of the bell tower date back to the 12th century. It was consecrated in 1250. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the brothers of the brotherhood of San Giuseppe or of the Body of Christ built a new chapel in the space next to the church, in a room that had previously been used as a stable. There were also the churches of the Madonna del Moro and the Madonna del Giglio . In the surrounding area there were finally San Bartolomeo in Camporeggiano, San Cristoforo in Civitella, Sant'Angelo and Stefano in Migianella, the church and monastery of Santa Caterina in Preggio, San Paterniano (today's Pierantonio where, at the beginning of the century, c 'was only Pier Antonio's house and tavern), San Giovanni a Serra Partucci. Convents and brotherhoods Monastery of Santa Maria We have news of it already in 1521, from the Statutes of the Fratta. It is a convent for women, probably located in the same place where one was built in 1604 of the nuns in Castel Nuovo, after Piaggiola, on the left, going down towards today's Piazza Marconi. It is also traced in 1555 and 1596. Immediately after the convent there was the door of Santa Maria which opened onto today's square. Fraternity of disciplines of the church of Santa Maria and hospital of Sant'Antonio The first news dates back to 1405. In 1515, "mayor and procurator" of the brotherhood is Giovan Paolo del fu Cristoforo. It has a land with the word "Seripole". The church is that of Santa Maria di Gastelvecchio, which Pesci calls "Pieve di Santa Maria". The brotherhood also has the hospital of Sant'Antonio, which joined that of Santa Maria in the distant 1411. Brotherhood of Santa Croce It has its origins in 1330. Large, historical, brotherhood of Fratta, it operated for several centuries up to the last one. She was the owner of many assets and engaged in a vast religious and welfare activity. Deeply engraved in the social reality of the country. Capuchin friars Before 1580 they lived, for rent, in two rooms owned by the brotherhood of San Bernardino. They worked in the various hospitals of Fratta. In the second half of the sixteenth century the brotherhood of Santa Croce hosted them in its houses, in today's Via Soli. Cistercians and Camaldolese in Montecorona The abbey of San Salvatore di Monte Acuto, located in the valley, near the Tiber (today's Badia) was built in 1008 by the Camaldolese and inhabited by them until 1234. They also have the small church of San Savino, halfway up the coast of Mount Corona where , in 1190, the saint died. In 1234 Pope Gregory IX transferred them to the Cistercian fathers, who lived there until 1524, the year in which Pope Clement VII gave everything back to the Camaldolese who kept it until around 1860. In 1532 the Camaldolese built the great hermitage on the top of Mount Corona, where their hermits went to live. Observant Franciscan Friars Minor of Santa Maria They lived in the convent of Santa Maria della Pietà since 1481. They also officiated at the church of Sant'Erasmo, providing for the adjoining hospital. Hermits of Sant'Agostino They were in the convent annexed to the church of the same name, at the bottom of the Piaggiola, going down on the right. In 1517 they bought a house owned by the church of Sant'Erasmo, located in the upper district of Fratta, in the town square (today's piazza della Rocca). They had land bordering the word "Le breccie", in the territory of Fratta. In 1597 Fra Gabriele da Polgeto was prior and they owned a field at Petrella, in the word "Campo della nut". Brotherhood of the Good Jesus He owned the church of San Bernardino and the adjoining hospital. In 1587 he signed a contract with the painter Mutio Flori, from Fratta, for a picture to be placed above the main altar ("The Last Supper", still visible today) and in 1588 he built the bell tower of the church. The seat was in the premises adjacent to the church, therefore it was also called the Confraternity of San Bernardino. Brotherhood of Saint Joseph or of the Body of Christ The seat was in the church of San Giovanni Battista, within the castle walls. Brotherhood of Sant'Antonio or della Buona Morte Its church was that of the nuns of Santa Maria Nuova. In 1750 it will be transferred to Sant'Agostino. Convent of San Francesco It was in the Borgo Inferiore, annexed to the church. The conventual Franciscan friars, called zoccolanti, lived there. On February 12, 1516 the general chapter of the friars meets. The custodian and procurator of the convent is friar Angelo di Giovanni, a professor of sacred theology. Other friars are Giuliano, Cipriano di Bartolomeo, Pierfrancesco da Montalcino, Pacifico di Piergiovanni della Fratta, Francesco di Giovanni Ursini. The convent owns a farm in the Rio. The miracle of the Madonna della Regghia The story aroused the explosion of devotion that led to the construction of the great and superb Madonna della Regghia, the Collegiata. We are in the year 1556, on the 14th of September. At Fratta there are many churches, but also several "Maestà" (aedicules with a sacred image) and as many chapels. One of these was located on the public road, on land owned by Francesco Graziani, a nobleman from Perugia, less than twenty meters from the current Collegiate Church (where the former Zampa building now Casi is). This can be deduced from a constructive anomaly in the elements that support the architrave of the west door with respect to those of the north door. The stone columns are placed on bases that each have two oblique sides with respect to the main wall, as if they want to indicate a direction, closely linked to the project. How many times have we walked past it without noticing it? An ideal connection between the existing chapel and the large new building under construction; a set of affection, devotion, gratitude that the people felt towards that image painted inside. The image of the Madonna, hence the "church of the Blessed and Glorious Virgin Mary", near the castle walls of Fratta, called by the people "Madonna della Regghia", from the name of the stream that flowed not far away. On the morning of September 14, a seven-year-old girl, daughter of Orlandino Vibi, born with a serious malformation in a leg that did not allow her to walk without support, was praying in front of the image, when "it is said that this spoke to him" and immediately "she found herself free and healthy and walked frankly." It was the clamor aroused by the event that prompted the bishop of Gubbio to make a pastoral visit to Fratta for two days, Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 October 1556, appointing his vicar Don Cesare Sperelli to do it. The extraordinary event led the civil and religious community to build a large church in honor of the Madonna, depicted on the small altar of this shrine. A competition of alms and bequests began, so much so that a special metal box had to be built. The construction plans were prepared (authors of the original design were Galeazzo Alessi and Giulio Danti); the Graziani of Perugia ceded the land and in 1560 work began. When they were completed at the end of the century, the painting was transported, together with the wall block on which it was frescoed, to the temple erected to welcome it and placed behind a glass case above the main altar. And today, after so many years, the sacred image of the Madonna is still the object of a special cult on the part of the people of Umbria. Photo by Fabio Mariotti from the Historical Photographic Archive of the Municipality of Umbertide and from the Archive of Giuseppe Severi Sources: "Calendar of Umbertide 2003" - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2003 "Umbertide from the origins to the sixteenth century" - Roberto Sciurpa - Ed. Petruzzi Città di Castello - 2007 S. Maria della Regghia (Collegiata) 100 years ago 1900. S. Maria della Pietà 1976. Church of the Madonna del Giglio Piaggiola today. On the right the building that in ancient times it housed the Monastery of S. Maria and later that of Castel Nuovo The convent of S. Maria in 1977 and today, after the last restoration The abbey of San Salvatore in Montecorona 1980s. Hermitage of Montecorona 1978. Church of the Madonna del Moro 1930s. Church and convent of San Francesco The cloister of San Francesco The image of the Madonna around which it was built the impressive temple The Carmelite church in an ancient painting The church of Sant'Erasmo in a 1910 drawing The Piaggiola. On the left stood the convent of S. Agostino 1915. The facades of Santa Croce and San Francesco 1890. The bell tower of San Giovanni Battista 1910. The church of San Bernardino Chiese, conventi e il miracolo della Madonna della Regghia The Fanfani of Fratta The Fanfani di Fratta, curiously often nicknamed the "Corto" and the "Migno", have been present in our territory for about 300 years, then suddenly there is no trace of this surname in Umbertide. curated by Fabio Mariotti Information taken entirely from the research of the local historian Renato Codovini in the civil and ecclesiastical archives of the ancient Fratta from which the presence of the Fanfani family has been documented from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. The first news about the Fanfani di Fratta dates back to 1548. It is initially a family of peasants who worked on a Petrella farm, owned by the Confraternity of Santa Croce. In civil and ecclesiastical documents of the time, they are often cited with the nickname of "Corto" and also of "Migno", as if they were people of short stature. In the book of entries and exits of the Confraternity of Santa Croce, year 1548, there is this entry: "And more than many he hauti in the account of the Fanfani for trimming the beam and the ribs ... (it is a Fanfani who lends himself to transport, with the treggia, some wooden beams that probably were used for the house of the Petrella farm; for this work he had 28 baiocchi). From documents of the notary Angelo Tei of 1568 it appears that the "short of the Fanfani" (so generically identified) was a rather quarrelsome type, called into question by several people to whom he caused damage. From these acts it appears that the Fanfani, having to carry pigs or sheep and goats from one place to another, instead of walking along the various farm roads, had the habit, to make it first, to cross the fields of others, even if sown. This caused some damage to the owner of the land who had nothing else to do but sue the "Corto" before the Judge of Fratta. From a civil act of 1607 it appears instead that the Bishop of Gubbio rents a land located along the Carpina to a certain Sante di Tommaso Fanfani who is in partnership with Gerolamo Pisanelli. Rent for three years at 435 scudi a year to be paid the first half on the Feast of St. John the Baptist and the second on December 25th (a sort of Christmas present). From a civil act of 1662 we learn that this Giovanni Maria Fanfani was appointed by the Community of Fratta to make a count on the relationship between flour and the production of bread in the public oven. The Fanfani in question is defined as a "recognized Professor". For the record, the count shows that the flour that comes out of the mill is made up of the following parts: pure flour (51.05%), sembola (33.34%), farinello (6.24%), Tritello (6 , 24%), bait (3.12%). From an ecclesiastical act of 1676 it appears that Bartolomeo Fanfani is Prior of the Confraternity of Santa Croce together with Francesco Burelli and Ippolito Petrogalli. In 1761 Tommaso Fanfani applied to the Church of Santa Croce to be named Spedaliere, a request however not accepted and the assignment was assigned, on May 3, to a certain Giuseppe Padovani. From a civil act of 1767 it appears instead that Alessandro Fanfani is a municipal damsel, whose task was to carry out the orders of the other employees: to clean the building, to ring the public bell for council meetings, for school or for parties. For this he takes a shield of salary every four months, which was the lowest salary, paid monthly with 25 baiocchi. In 1790 Alessandro Fanfani, after 23 years, is still a municipal boy (even then promotions were not within everyone's reach. Perhaps "our Fanfani" did not have enough "Saints in Paradise" and a "White Whale" (1) behind"). From a civil act of 1808 we know that on September 6, during the fence competition (ox against dogs) the scaffolding built in Piazza San Francesco fell. On this occasion, Sante Fanfani, a 54-year-old shoemaker, was questioned about the event. The last official news we have about the Fanfani di Fratta dates back to 1841, when Nicola Fanfani is Prior of the Confraternity of Sant'Antonio da Padova. Since then there has been no news of the Fanfani and this surname is no longer present in Umbertide. Perhaps the Fanfani moved to nearby Tuscany, perhaps to Pieve Santo Stefano, forgetting their ancient Umbrian origins. The most famous was certainly Amintore, a leading exponent of the Christian Democrats from the 1950s to the 1980s (2). Note: 1. " White whale " was the nickname of the Christian Democrats 2. Amintore Fanfani (Pieve Santo Stefano, 6 February 1908 - Rome, 20 November 1999) was an Italian politician, economist, historian and academic. He was president of the Senate three times and five times president of the Council of Ministers between 1954 and 1987 when, at the age of 79 and 6 months, he became the oldest head of the government of the Italian Republic, twice secretary of the Christian Democrats and also party president, Minister of Foreign Affairs, interior and budget and economic planning. - The images of the documents are by Renato Codovini, taken directly from the article by Umbertide Cronache. - Renato Codovini's photo is by Fabio Mariotti - The photo of Amintore Fanfani is taken from the Internet (Wikipedia) Sources: “History of Umbertide - from the century. VIII to the century. XIX "by Renato Codovini (unpublished manuscript) Article by Fabio Mariotti published in “Umbertide Cronache” n.2 - 1995 The Umbertidese historian Renato Codovini GLI STATUTI DELLA FRATERNITA DI SANTA CROCE Dal libro “Statuti e ordini della Fraternita di Santa Croce in Fratta (Umbertide) dal 1567 al 1741” – a cura di Bruno Porrozzi Premessa Allo stato attuale delle conoscenze non siamo in grado di affermare con sicurezza la data precisa di fondazione a Fratta di una confraternita laica di Santa Croce (o di altro nome), ma certamente non dovremmo essere tanto lontani dal vero se ne facciamo risalire le origini al tempo di San Pier Damiani (morto nel 1072), di San Francesco (1182-1226) promotore dei Penitenti, fondatore dei Frati minori. Dopo San Francesco, il pio laico Raniero (o Rainerio) Fasani, propagatore della disciplina pubblica nel territorio perugino e oltre, nel 1260 predicava la necessità di far penitenza, di espiare pubblicamente i peccati rievocando la passione di Cristo, partecipando alle sofferenze di Gesù flagellandosi a sangue. Può essere verosimile che a Fratta, nella seconda metà del XIII secolo, fossero presenti gruppi di penitenti e disciplinati che, riuniti nelle parrocchie, praticavano esercizi penitenziali non quotidianamente, in maniera incruenta, indossando sempre (penitenti) o in certe circostanze (disciplinati) un abito speciale. Con il passare del tempo, dopo il 1260, i confratelli, organizzati in fraternite locali, scelsero una divisa, una uniforme che, per lo più, consisteva in una tunica bianca, rossa o di altro colore, con o senza scapolare e mantello; tali divise venivano conservate, in genere, negli armadi della sede della confraternita ed indossate per andare in processione o durante le riunioni. Le confraternite laiche, secondo quanto affermano il Mavarelli e altri studiosi, avrebbero avuto origine dall'ordinarsi e dal raccogliersi nelle parrocchie delle folle di disciplinati, dopo il 1258-1260, attenuato il primitivo entusiasmo che li aveva portati "fuori dei casali, dei presbiteri, dei tuguri, dei palazzi, per andare processionalmente per le strade e per le piazze e di paese in paese percuotendosi con fruste di cuoio (scope) fino a sangue, implorando con gemiti e lacrime la divina misericordia" (FRANCESCO MAVARELLI, Notizie storiche e laudi della Compagnia di disciplinati di S. Maria Nuova S. Croce nella Terra di Fratta (Umbertide), Stab. Tipografico Tiberino, 1899, pp. 6, 7). Sul finire del XIII o all'inizio del XIV secolo doveva essere attiva a Fratta la Compagnia dei Flagellanti, come attesta un privilegio, concesso dal vescovo di Gubbio, Pietro di Rosso Gabrielli, che reca la data del 1337; il privilegio prevede la concessione di quaranta giorni di indulgenza a chi darà “aiuti per condurre a termine la fabbrica iniziata dell'ospedale” (Cfr. F. Mavarelli, Op. cit., pp. 6, 7). Per carenza di documentazione sicura, non si può dire che dalla Confraternita dei Flagellanti si passò a quella di Santa Maria Nuova e a quella di Santa Croce; di certo c'è che negli Statuti del 1567 che si presentano, si afferma che verso il 1360 “considerando alcuni huomini da bene della Fratta contado di Perugia, come nella detta Terra non si trovava una Compagnia che attendesse alle opere di charità, come nelli altri luoghi si trova, mossi et ispirati dallo Spirito Sancto, si risolvemo unitamente a fondare una sancta fraternita et compagnia sotto il nome prima di Santa Maria nova e di poi sotto il nome et invocazione della S.ma Croce di Cristo..”. A Fratta, come in molti altri luoghi, le confraternite chiesero aiuto ai francescani o ai domenicani per aver in uso una sala per le riunioni e come sede sociale, un cappellano per celebrare i riti religiosi nella chiesa del convento e come assistente spirituale; è questo un momento importante per la vita delle confraternite, per l'istituzione che viene riconosciuta e le vengono accordate delle indulgenze. Numerosi sono gli esempi di confraternite che ebbero l'opportunità di possedere una propria sede, un oratorio, un centro amministrativo, un hospitalis per i pellegrini e poveri malati. La Confraternita di Santa Croce a Fratta ebbe proprietà immobiliari. una chiesa, un ospedale e propri statuti che lasciavano “entro certi limiti” i confratelli liberi di “poter mutare, aggiugnere o dichiarare più et manco li sopradetti capitoli ogni volta che parerà o piacerà alla stessa Fraternita in tutto o per tutto”...; nel 1612 gli statuti del 1567 vengono “aggiornati”, per il buon governo della Compagnia, dal vescovo eugubino monsignor Andrea Sorbolongo e confermati poi dal successore monsignor Alessandro del Monte nel 1622, sempre in occasione della visita pastorale, con decreti del vescovo Sostegno Maria Cavalli nel 1730 e nel 1741. L'indipendenza della confraternita laica dall'autorità religiosa era comunque sicuramente parziale, poiché soggetta al controllo del vescovo che emanava decreti ed esaminava lo statuto sociale con riserva di approvare o apportare modifiche, quasi sempre in occasione delle visite pastorali. Introduzione Il manoscritto originale si compone di due parti ben distinte: la prima di quattro pagine di carta con poche scritte esplicative (1-4), sedici pagine bianche, sempre su carta (5-20), due fogli bianchi (21-24) in pergamena, ventiquattro pagine scritte su pergamena con i più antichi (1567) capitoli degli statuti e ordinazioni della Confraternita (25-48); la seconda parte, su carta, di trentaquattro pagine scritte, con i capitoli degli statuti del 1612 e i successivi ordini (49-80). Concludono il manoscritto otto pagine bianche di carta. Il tutto, nel formato quindici per ventidue centimetri, rilegato in cuoio marrone scuro, redatto in un volgare quasi sempre sufficientemente chiaro e regolare. Le pagine in pergamena non risultano numerate, quelle su carta, dopo l'indice, sono numerate con cifre arabe da mano coeva. La legatura, assegnabile al XVII secolo, è formata da due fogli di cartone ricoperti in pelle, come si è detto, con quattro borchie (oggi scomparse) sulla prima e quarta di copertina. A Fratta, nel tempo, operarono diverse confraternite; le più attive furono quelle di Santa Croce e di San Bernardino, ancor oggi presenti nella realtà umbertidese. Il lavoro di ricerca storica su queste confraternite e su altre rimane ancora tutto da fare, utilizzando la documentazione reperibile negli archivi pubblici e privati in notevole quantità. La pubblicazione dei presenti statuti vuol essere un contributo, uno stimolo all'apertura di un nuovo "cantiere" per la ricerca storica locale, un cantiere interessante, sicuramente significativo se si tiene presente che le confraternite non furono solamente un centro di spiritualità, ma anche una struttura di notevole importanza sociale, politica, economica e culturale nella realtà di Fratta nei secoli XVI-XIX; qualcuno dovrebbe scriverne la storia. In fiduciosa attesa, con la speranza che venga raccolto l'invito, i consiglieri dell'Associazione Pro-loco hanno il piacere di offrire ai propri concittadini i rarissimi, forse unici, documenti che seguono in copia anastatica con "traduzione", ritenendo che leggerli significa, oltre tutto, cercare di capire la nostra storia, le nostre radici, le nostre tradizioni, le origini della solidarietà della quale oggi tanto si parla. A1 termine del lavoro, oltre a chi ha contribuito alla stampa del volume, è doveroso esprimere un sentimento di gratitudine alla dottoressa Silvana Tomassoni , al signor Mario Gasperini , all'architetto Maurizio Pucci , tutti della Soprintendenza ai Beni A.A.A. S. di Perugia, al dottor Stefano Felicetti , archivista e ricercatore, per i preziosi suggerimenti. Capitoli e regole della Compagnia della Croce del castello della Fratta - diocesi di Gubbio - Contado di Perugia Prologo Tutta la vita cristiana e la sua perfezione non è altro che amare, con il cuore e con le opere, nostro Signore Dio, il prossimo nostro, come dicono il medesimo nostro Salvatore nel Vangelo: "Amerai il tuo Dio con tutto il cuore e con tutte le tue forze e il prossimo tuo come te stesso", e il suo diletto discepolo San Giovanni evangelista: "Quello che non ama suo fratello che vede, come può amare Dio che non vede"? Pertanto, alcuni uomini dabbene della Fratta contado di Perugia, considerando come nella detta terra non si trovava una compagnia che si dedicasse alle opere di carità, come avviene in altri luoghi, mossi e ispirati dallo Spirito Santo, decisero concordemente di fondare una santa confraternita e compagnia con il nome, prima di Santa Maria nuova, poi sotto il nome e l'implorazione della Santissima Croce di Cristo, il quale sulla Croce ha dimostrato la maggior carità che mai si è dimostrata verso i poveri peccatori, affinché, anche loro, memori del sacrificio del Cristo, fossero incitati con cristiana carità a compiere le sette opere di misericordia a beneficio dei poveri, secondo le forze che Dio avrebbe concesso loro. Tale confraternita è stata fondata anticamente nella terra di Fratta, duecento anni fa circa, niente di meno, e ai nostri giorni è "alquanto rifreddata", così, sentendosene la mancanza, come si verifica con le cose buone che hanno bisogno di essere riproposte e migliorate, i fratelli sopra citati, desiderando ricostituire la detta confraternita in forma migliore, dedicandola a Dio e alla sua gloriosa madre vergine Maria, riuniti in assemblea generale l'anno del Signore 1566, il giorno della presentazione della Madonna [21 novembre] all'unanimità deliberarono di mandare a Roma, come loro procuratore generale, Gabriello di Bastiano Angelini di Fratta, il quale avesse "piena authorità" di assumere informazioni sugli ordini, capitoli e statuti di qualche confraternita di Roma e di unire a questa la nostra confraternita, che ne imiterà ed osserverà le regole "perpetuamente" ad onore di Dio, della sua santissima Madre e ad aiuto dei poveri della Terra di Fratta. Dunque, avendo il sopracitato Gabriello "ritrovato in Roma la Compagnia della charità" conforme allo spirito della confraternita di Fratta e considerato favorevolmente l'insieme degli ordini della Confraternita della Carità, tenuto conto del prestigio e delle raccomandazioni di questa ed in particolare del consiglio di molti uomini dabbene, specialmente del Reverendo Padre fra' Paulino da Lucca, maestro in sacra Teologia dell'ordine di San Domenico, unita la detta fraternita di Santa Croce alla Compagnia della carità, come risulta da atto pubblico, ne riportò i capitoli infrascritti che si devono osservare da tutti i fratelli "con obbligo non di peccato alcuno", ma di effettuare la penitenza che verrà loro imposta, oppure di essere cancellati dall'elenco dei confratelli. La Confraternita, infine, riunita in assemblea generale potrà deliberare ciò che sembrerà più opportuno e necessario, "secondo li tempi, purchè non si manchi della osservanza, et sustantia di detti capitoli" e, nel più breve tempo possibile, si proceda di bene in meglio, come speriamo, sorretti dalla misericordia di Dio. E poiché prima siamo obbligati ad amare Dio e a cercare la salvezza della nostra anima, poi quella del prossimo, così, prima riporteremo i capitoli che affronteranno "il modo di vivere delli fratelli", poi i capitoli e il modo "circa 1'exercitare le sette opere di misericordia inverso delli proximi". Dunque, ricevano i fratelli questo santissimo dono di Dio, ringraziando sua Maestà [il Signore, il papa, o ...?] e, con grande fervore, si rinnovino al ben fare, come se oggi, di nuovo, fosse fondata questa Santissima Compagnia al nome della Santissima Croce di nostro Signore e della sua Santissima Madre, benedicendo sempre quelli "in saecula saeculorum, amen" [nei secoli dei secoli, così sia]. Capitolo primo Del modo di associare i fratelli di questa Compagnia Quando qualcuno chiederà di far parte della nostra fraternita, la proposta deve essere fatta dal Priore; l'associazione avverrà con voto segreto, con le palline bianche e nere, e dopo che il candidato avrà ottenuto i tre quarti dei voti, altrimenti non sia accettato. Un giorno di festa, poi, riunita tutta la Confraternita, il Priore dirà alcune parole sui presenti capitoli e, chiamato colui che vuole entrare a far parte della Confraternita, lo vestirà della veste della Compagnia, gli darà una candela in mano, mentre i confratelli canteranno l'inno "Veni creator spiritus" o qualche altra orazione; e così sarà inscritto tra i fratelli della Compagnia. Non venga associato alcuno che sia di cattiva fama o che abbia compiuto qualche azione scandalosa o che giochi a carte o che abbia inimicizia o che conduca una vita disonesta o sia un cattivo cristiano. E se qualcuno della Compagnia cascasse in simili vizi o che fosse disobbediente al Priore o che non osservasse i capitoli o non prendesse parte alle processioni o all'ufficio, quando si dirà, dopo essere stato ammonito dal Priore a nome della Compagnia due o tre volte e non volendosi ravvedere, sia espulso immediatamente dalla Compagnia. E affinché nessuno possa invocare ignoranza il Priore convochi una volta al mese tutti i fratelli e, in presenza di tutti, legga i presenti capitoli. Capitolo secondo Degli ufficiali della Compagnia Tutti gli ufficiali della Compagnia si eleggeranno con le palline nere e bianche su nominativi di persone idonee proposti dal Priore; il primo candidato che raggiungerà i tre quarti dei voti verrà nominato ufficiale. Per primo si eleggerà un Priore che resterà in carica per sempre, se, per gravi motivi di grande importanza, la Compagnia non delibererà di eleggerne un altro. Ogni anno, il giorno di Santa Croce, si eleggerà un Sottopriore, il quale farà tanto quanto vorrà il Priore, verrà altresì eletto un Depositario, che, per inventario annoterà e renderà conto, ogni anno, di ogni cosa, né potrà dare né spendere, sia pure un quattrino, senza espressa autorizzazione del Priore; in caso contrario sarà controllato e pagherà del suo. Verranno poi eletti due Sagrestani, ovvero custodi della chiesa, che si dedicheranno a tutte le adunate, feste, processioni, secondo gli ordini del Priore. Infine, si eleggerà uno Spedaliere che stia nell'ospedale a ricevere i pellegrini; se non si comporterà bene il Priore potrà toglierlo dal posto e, con il consenso della Compagnia, metterne un altro. Il Priore potrà distribuire ai poveri e ad altri bisognosi tutti i beni della Compagnia, tenendo però buon conto con il Depositario di ogni cosa, ma non potrà alienare niente, né assumere un cappellano perpetuo, né dare un salario senza l'autorizzazione della Compagnia. Il Priore potrà comandare tutti i fratelli, i quali gli saranno sempre obbedienti nelle cose possibili, ragionevoli e che riguardano l'osservanza dei capitoli e del vivere cristiano, dell'ufficio divino, e nei bisogni e uffici che lui ordinerà; non ci sia alcuno che ardisca ribellarsi e disubbidire, altrimenti sarà cacciato dal Priore dall'Associazione con il consenso della Fraternita. Capitolo terzo Dell'ufficio divino La sera della vigilia di tutte le feste, i fratelli converranno alla loro chiesa a dire il Mattutino della Madonna, la mattina a dire Prima [al sorgere del sole], Terza, Sesta e Nona e, dopo pranzo, a dire Vespro e Compièta; quelli che non sapessero leggere diranno la Corona o il Santo Rosario della Madonna e quelli che, per qualche motivo legittimo, talvolta, non potranno essere presenti mandino o facciano scusa al Priore. Questo medesimo ufficio si dirà tutti i venerdì di Quaresima, e ciascuno dei fratelli sarà obbligato, oltre l'ufficio sopraddetto, a dire ogni giorno cinque Pater noster e cinque Ave Maria a riverenza della Santa Croce e della gloriosa Madre di Dio. Ognuno ancora, potendo, farà di tutto per udire la Messa ogni mattina, per andare alle prediche, per confessarsi una volta al mese, non mancando però mai di confessarsi oltre la Pasqua di resurrezione, alla Pasqua dello Spirito Santo, per Santa Croce di maggio, per la presentazione della Madonna e per il Natale. Tutti imparino, oltre il Pater noster e 1'Ave Maria, ancora il Credo, la Salve Regina e i dieci comandamenti; sarà compito del Priore far controllare simili cose pubblicamente in chiesa durante la festa, affinché chi non le sa le impari. Dopo il giorno di Tutti i Santi si celebri un anniversario per i benefattori della Compagnia, e un altro ancora per i fratelli di detta Compagnia e per i morti sepolti nella loro chiesa. Si faccia ancora la disciplina tutti i venerdì di Quaresima e nelle vigilie comandate. E nei tre giorni della settimana santa si facciano quelle cerimonie che sono riportate sul libro della Compagnia, come si fa negli altri luoghi. Il giorno della Purificazione il Priore farà benedire le candele e, dopo pranzo ne darà una per uno ai fratelli della Compagnia; farà ancora celebrare solennemente tre feste l'anno con il solito ufficio e processione, alle quali feste converranno tutti i fratelli e cioè a Santa Croce di maggio e di settembre e alla Presentazione della Vergine Maria. Capitolo quarto Delle processioni Ogni domenica e ogni venerdì di Quaresima tutti i fratelli andranno a processione devotamente e così i tre giorni di Pasqua di resurrezione e di Pasqua rosata, i tre giorni di Rogazione, il giorno dell'Ascensione, del Corpus Domini, San Bernardino, San Giuseppe, Santa Croce, Sant'Antonio, la Presentazione, la Visitazione e tutte le altre volte nelle quali la Compagnia sarà invitata; chi può si compri la cappa da per sé e a chi non può sia provvista dalla Compagnia e vada cantando o dicendo qualche cosa devota; nessuno ardisca parlare per la strada e chi non sa cantare dica la corona e faccia orazione per tutti. Così in chiesa, nel vestirsi e nello spogliarsi, non si faccia rumore, ma tutti in silenzio e con ordine stiano devotamente, e quando sono alla Messa non parlino, ma stiano in orazione, o leggano o dicano qualche devozione con i due ginocchi in terra e discosti dall'altare con riverenza, mostrando esser presenti al loro Signore. Il medesimo faranno in coro, quando si dirà l'ufficio. E nessuno se ne vada senza licenza del Priore o del Sottopriore. Capitolo quinto Dell'ufficio dello Spedaliere Le sette opere di misericordia sono quelle delle quali, nel giorno del giudizio universale, dobbiamo rendere ragione davanti al tribunale di Dio, per le quali saremo premiati o condannati. Fra queste opere una delle principali è il dedicarsi agli ospedali e ricevere poveri forestieri. Perciò sarà compito dello Spedaliere, quando viene qualche povero secolare o religioso per alloggiare, riceverlo nell'ospedale e subito darne notizia al Priore o Sottopriore, affinché, con loro ordine, sia provvisto di quanto sarà di bisogno per una sera o più, secondo le necessità; e se verrà alcuno che è infermo sarà obbligo del Priore farlo portare o a Città di Castello o a Perugia negli ospedali grandi, secondo il beneplacito dell'infermo; e accadendo che qualcuno muoia nell'ospedale, si provveda ogni cosa circa lo spirituale e il temporale, in vita e in morte, come se fosse un fratello della nostra Compagnia, ricordandosi di fare al prossimo quello che vorremmo fosse fatto a noi stessi. E poiché quello dello Spedaliere è il principale ufficio di questa Compagnia, pertanto, oltre gli altri ufficiali, si userà grandissima diligenza (come anticamente i nostri maggiori hanno fatto e fanno tutti gli ospedali bene ordinati negli altri luoghi) di eleggere ogni anno uno dei fratelli della Compagnia idoneo a questo incarico, da bene, capace, caritativo e sollecito, il quale abbia sempre un compagno coadiutore per tutte le necessità; se sarà necessario la Compagnia potrà deliberare di dare loro un salario giusto e ragionevole affinché non si manchi per alcun motivo a quest'opera tanto degna, la quale è il fondamento di questa nostra Fraternita. Lo Spedaliere, dunque, vigilerà che nell'ospedale non si giochi, non si faccia alcuna cosa disonesta né che sia in disonore di Dio in alcun modo e, se vi sono infermi, che siano somministrati loro tutti i sacramenti della chiesa, e che le donne stiano separate dagli uomini. Lo Spedaliere tenga netto e pulito l'ospedale, i letti provvisti e i poveri forestieri, sani o infermi, siano ricevuti con carità e trattati bene in tutte le cose loro necessarie, pensando che non riceve solamente un povero, ma Cristo Gesù e faccia a loro tutto quello che vorrebbe fosse fatto a sè quando si ritrovasse in simili bisogni. Capitolo sesto Del seppellire i morti Quando ci sarà qualche povero che non ha chi lo seppellisca, il Priore provveda due o tre persone o più secondo il bisogno dei fratelli della Compagnia, le quali lo seppelliscano e facciano tutto quello che sarà necessario a simile opera pia; la confraternita lo porti alla sepoltura e così si faccia per tutti gli altri morti, uomini e donne poveri o ricchi che siano, non essendoci altri che si interessano a questa opera pia. Il Priore potrà dare ordini a quattro fratelli per volta al mese o, come a lui sembrerà più opportuno, a persone più adatte, caritative e sollecite in tale necessità. Il Priore provveda ancora a ricordare i turni di attività e faccia in maniera tale che nessuno muoia senza sacramenti e che nessuno sia abbandonato, né da vivo né da morto, finchè non sarà seppellito. Il Priore provvederà a far lavare i morti, a farli vestire, accompagnare, portare e seppellire; in tutte le cose si faccia quanto richiede la carità e l'abitudine dei buoni cristiani. E tutto questo che si è detto si farà con più diligenza nei confronti dei fratelli della Confraternita quando saranno infermi e poi dopo la morte; verranno vestiti della veste della Fraternita e, con quella sola, senza altri ornamenti della bara, siano portati in chiesa e così sepolti. Tutti i fratelli, quando si seppellisce uno di loro, saranno presenti, leggendo tutti quei salmi o altre devozioni che sono nel libro della Compagnia. I fratelli diranno per il morto, più presto che sia possibile, una volta la Corona, ovvero il Rosario della vergine Maria, mentre il Priore, il giorno medesimo ovvero il seguente se sarà possibile farà dire nella chiesa della Compagnia una messa per l'anima del fratello morto, alla quale messa tutti i confratelli della Compagnia sono tenuti ad essere presenti. Il sagrestano darà in mano a tutti una candela per uno da accendere mentre si dice la messa fino alla fine. Capitolo settimo Del modo di distribuire le elemosine ai poveri Poiché i beni di questa Compagnia sono stati lasciati dai nostri antichi per beneficio dei poveri e non per altro, così il Priore abbia cura che le entrate della Compagnia siano spese esclusivamente per i poveri e per i bisogni della chiesa e dell'ospedale, che non si facciano pranzi solenni né altri pranzi di alcun tipo in alcun luogo. Il Priore vigili affinché non si faccia alcuna elemosina a coloro che non sono poveri e che non hanno bisogno, ma solo a quei poveri che chiederanno l'elemosina, ai quali si dia tutto quello di cui necessitano "in sanità et in infirmità" come pane, vino, medicine, denari e simili e altre cose necessarie; e altrettanto ancora si farà per quelli che sono poveri vergognosi, i quali si vergognano di chiedere. Se poi qualcuno fosse in difficoltà economiche per maritare le sue figlie zitelle, sia aiutato secondo il bisogno e ad arbitrio del Priore. E nei tempi di carestia la Confraternita sia tenuta a distribuire una mina di grano ai poveri nella chiesa della Compagnia ogni venerdì, cominciando il primo venerdì di Quaresima fino al venerdì avanti San Pietro, cioè per circa quattro mesi. Il Priore provveda affinché la Compagnia abbia questi libri: prima il libro che si chiama "Campione", nel quale verranno registrati tutti i beni della Compagnia, mobili e immobili, con le loro misure e confini, chi li tiene e in che modo; il secondo libro riporterà le entrate e le uscite "minutamente" di tutto quello che si spenderà durante l'anno, e ogni anno, dopo la festa di Santa Croce di maggio, si renda conto di ogni cosa in presenza dei sindaci in modo tale però che tali conti siano rivisti e saldati entro e non oltre il mese di maggio e si possa consegnare l'inventario al nuovo depositario. Il terzo libro conterrà tutti i contratti e le scritture importanti della Compagnia e tutti i ricordi di quelle cose che accadranno, meritevoli di essere conosciuti da quelli che verranno, massimamente i presenti capitoli e gli ufficiali che si eleggeranno di anno in anno, gli ordini e i decreti che si faranno dalla Compagnia nel tempo; tutti questi libri saranno conservati dal Priore e da nessun altro. Capitolo ottavo Del correttore, predicatore e cappellano della Compagnia Poiché in tutte le buone opere i secolari hanno bisogno di essere indirizzati e aiutati dai sacerdoti e affinché la Confraternita possa essere governata meglio massimamente nel ben vivere, nel buon costume e nella osservanza dei presenti capitoli, il Priore, con il consenso della Compagnia eleggerà, secondo il costume delle altre compagnie, un sacerdote religioso osservante di buona vita e che voglia attendere, aiutare, consigliare e correggere i fratelli in tutte le cose necessarie al buono stato della Compagnia, al quale sacerdote il Priore con tutti i fratelli, renderà onore e obbedienza e riferirà tutte le iniziative importanti e necessarie; senza il suo consiglio non si ordinerà o cambierà alcuna cosa, in particolare nei confronti dell'osservanza dei seguenti capitoli. Se non sarà possibile avere un sacerdote residente alla Fratta, se ne eleggerà uno che stia a Perugia, ovvero a Città di Castello come meglio sembrerà, mettendolo al corrente delle necessità della Confraternita, invitandolo spesso a venire alla Fratta per insegnare, coordinare tutte quelle cose che saranno indispensabili per lo sviluppo della Fraternita. Il Priore e la Compagnia siano obbligati ad eleggere ogni anno, per predicare tutto l'Avvento fino alla festa dell'Epifania, un religioso osservante dell'ordine di San Domenico o di San Francesco e spendere in simile opera quello che sarà necessario per il predicatore. Se il convento della Fratta non avrà tale predicatore, come non hanno adesso i frati di San Domenico e i frati dei cappuccini, la Compagnia dovrà provvedere l'alloggio il vitto e le altre cose necessarie. Poiché però la Compagnia ha bisogno di continuo aiuto, di esortazioni, messe, confessioni, comunioni e altri simili esercizi cristiani, il Priore dovrà cercare diligentemente, trovare (se però sarà possibile) ed eleggere con consenso della Compagnia e con un salario conveniente, un sacerdote come cappellano della Fraternita e della chiesa, il quale sia uomo di buon esempio, adatto all'opera che dovrà svolgere, e che voglia abbracciare con tutto il cuore questa santa opera, a lode di Dio, utilità comune della Confraternita e di tutti gli uomini e donne della nostra terra. Finis Ed io, Alessandro Marocilli , pubblico notaio, inscritto nell'archivio della curia e segretario dell'Arciconfraternita della Carità di Roma, tutti i sopraddetti capitoli letti e visti, deputato per R. O. da parte dell'Arciconfraternita nel segno della conferma degli stessi capitoli secondo le lettere patenti e la bolla di unione della suddetta Confraternita della Fratta con la predetta Arciconfraternita sotto la data e millesimo infrascritti ho sottoscritto su ordine demandato il giorno 18 del mese di febbraio 1567. Così è, Alessandro Marocilli Come sopra, etcetera. Addì 9 di maggio 1567 Si dichiara per il presente capitolo come i soprascritti capitoli non obbligano, sotto pena di scomunica o di peccato o altra pena o pregiudizio, i fratelli della Compagnia, ma che loro sono liberi di poter mutare, aggiungere o togliere i sopraddetti capitoli ogni volta che sembrerà opportuno o piacerà alla detta Fraternita in tutto e per tutto come del resto è contenuto nella bolla dell'unione fatta il 18 di febbraio 1567. E così io F. Paulino, in presenza della Compagnia, dopo richiesta e consenso di tutti, il giorno sopra scritto ho dichiarato e capitolato per levare via ogni scrupolo dalle menti delle persone. Lode a Dio e alla Santissima Croce. Gli Statuti della Fraternita di Santa Croce GLI STATUTI DELLA FRATERNITA DI SANTA CROCE AGGIORNATI AL 1622 Statuti e ordini per il buon governo della Compagnia di Santa Croce della terra della Fratta fatti da Monsignor Rever.mo Andrea Sorbolongo, vescovo di Gubbio, nella visita dell'anno 1612 e confermati da Monsignor Rever.mo Dal Monte, suo degnissimo successore, Quem Deus etcetera. Capitolo primo Del numero degli ufficiali della Compagnia Essendo necessario per il buon governo di questa Confraternita che vi siano ufficiali con le opere dei quali e col dividere tra loro gli incarichi venga ad essere amministrata e governata con buoni ordini, ordiniamo che ci siano gli infrascritti ufficiali e cioè due Priori, un Camerlengo ovvero Depositario, due Sindaci o Revisori, due Priori dell'ospedale, un Segretario e quattro Sacrestani da durare un anno nell'ufficio; dell'elezione e ufficio degli ufficiali si dirà nei seguenti capitoli. Capitolo secondo Della qualità degli ufficiali Per eliminare alcuni inconvenienti che si possono verificare nelle elezioni degli ufficiali, si ordina che nella Confraternita ci sia un elenco pubblico dei fratelli della Compagnia, nel quale siano riportati e annotati solo quelli che dichiareranno di voler essere di detta Compagnia e vestire l'abito di questa e non di altre di detta terra, dal quale elenco di fratelli così descritti si prenderanno persone adatte per gli uffici della Compagnia, permettendo però che quelli che sono soliti vestire sacchi di altre Compagnie, ancorché siano da lungo tempo anche di questa, nella quale non siano soliti vestire, possano godere gli altri privilegi e grazie spirituali che godono gli altri Confratelli. Non può essere ufficiale chi è scomunicato e bollato di infamia pubblica o che non è comunicato a Pasqua. Similmente è inabile agli uffici chi fosse debitore o creditore o interessato con la Compagnia o che fosse in lite con essa per qualsivoglia causa. Non potranno essere ufficiali nel medesimo tempo padre e figlio, due fratelli, anche zio e nipote. Non possa essere Priore, Camerlengo, Sindaco chi non arriva a venti anni; prima che si effettui qualsiasi elezione, il Segretario legga il presente e il seguente capitolo. Capitolo terzo Del modo di eleggere gli insaccolatori e gli ufficiali Per adattarsi all'uso inveterato di questa Compagnia di eleggere i suoi ufficiali per mezzo di insaccolatori, ordiniamo che nel secondo giorno di Pasqua di Resurrezione dell'anno che si dovrà rifare il sacco dei nuovi ufficiali, in una pubblica assemblea, i Priori, il Camerlengo e i Sindaci eleggeranno sei persone discrete tra i fratelli della Compagnia, dal quale numero si estrarranno tre persone, le quali dovranno rifare il sacco per tre anni; nel fare ciò si procederà in questa maniera: la domenica dell'ottava di Pasqua i tre insaccolatori si riuniranno segretamente in chiesa, ove, recitate le solite preghiere, fatto giuramento di operare con carità e senza tornaconto personale, eleggeranno i nuovi ufficiali o "a voce" o "per voti segreti"; se ci "fosse discrepanza", diversità di vedute, "si metterà la sorte". Il tutto dovrà essere verbalizzato dal Segretario, che parteciperà a tutte le operazioni "senza voto decisivo". Lo stesso Segretario, finita la votazione, rinchiuderà segretamente le schede degli ufficiali eletti per ciascun anno in tre palle di cera, sigillate in un'altra palla simile alle tre, ma più grande, inserendovi un foglio ove saranno annotati tutti gli ufficiali di ciascuno dei tre anni, affinché, verificandosi qualche inconveniente (frode, dubbio o altro) si possa immediatamente confrontare con quanto scritto sul foglio e superare ogni difficoltà o controversia. Si avverte che i tre elettori suddetti "sono privi di voce passiva", cioè non possono essere eletti "per li tre anni futuri" all'ufficio del priorato e camerlengato. Il segretario e i tre elettori dovranno tenere segreti i risultati elettorali [fino al tre di maggio, festa di Santa Croce]. Capitolo quarto Del modo e tempo di dare l'ufficio ai nuovi ufficiali Ogni anno, nel giorno della festa di Santa Croce al 3 di maggio, nella assemblea generale si estrarrà una palla dei nuovi ufficiali il cui contenuto verrà reso pubblico dal Segretario. Quelli che saranno eletti a qualche ufficio andranno avanti all'altare maggiore da dove, pregando Iddio che doni loro la grazia di amministrare bene il detto ufficio e, fatto un cenno dai Priori anziani, se ne ritorneranno; al tornare dei quali, tutti gli ufficiali vecchi si alzeranno in piedi e se ne andranno dal loro posto facendovi sedere i nuovi ufficiali e si consegneranno le chiavi, i libri e il sigillo. Poi il Priore presente più anziano esorterà i nuovi ufficiali a mantenere le opere pie che si fanno dalla Confraternita, pregandoli a conservarne i beni e le robe con ogni loro potere e scusandosi con gli ufficiali passati delle loro negligenze, domanderanno perdono a Dio. Poi si dirà il Te Deum e Deus innocentiae restitutor, e fatto ciò, non essendovi altro da dire, si stabiliranno le ore della giornata nelle quali consegnare le robe, riscontrare gli inventari e rendere i conti in conformità di quanto si dirà nel capitolo settimo. Capitolo quinto Dell'ufficio dei Priori Vogliamo che i Priori siano capi e guida della Compagnia, ai quali ciascuno debba portare rispetto ed essere obbediente nelle cose che riguardano la Compagnia, siano governatori e amministratori di tutti i luoghi e delle robe della Compagnia, procurino che i beni e le robe di essa siano fedelmente amministrate e distribuite in conformità degli obblighi e delle antiche istituzioni della Compagnia affinchè non vengano defraudate le intenzioni e le disposizioni dei benefattori, provvedendo che gli stabili non si usurpino né si alienino. I Priori, all'inizio del loro mandato, siano obbligati ad intervenire ai controlli degli inventari, che si faranno tra gli ufficiali vecchi e nuovi, e ad assistere con i Sindaci alla resa dei conti, avvertendo di non ingerirsi in cosa alcuna prima che siano stati resi i conti dagli ufficiali passati. Procurino, prima che finisca il loro ufficio, di far riscuotere tutti i crediti, pagare tutti i debiti, fare saldo con tutti per non lasciare confusione ai nuovi successori, forse con danno della Compagnia. I Priori siano obbligati, insieme con il Camerlengo, almeno una volta durante il loro ufficio a visitare tutti i beni stabili della Compagnia, faranno convocare tutte le assemblee sia generali sia segrete e assistervi. Provvedano poi affinché nei tempi dovuti siano soddisfatti tutti gli obblighi e carichi della Compagnia. Non possano di loro propria autorità spendere più di uno scudo in cose che non siano ordinarie e solite. Ordineranno tutti i mandati dei pagamenti e spese ordinarie e straordinarie, sottoscrivendoli e timbrandoli col sigillo della Compagnia. Uno di essi dovrà sottoscrivere le lettere missive che occorreranno durante il giorno, in questo modo (I Priori) e l'altro vi metterà il sigillo, il quale dovrà stare in mano di uno solo; il medesimo procedimento potrà essere osservato nel sottoscrivere i mandati. I Priori procurino che si mettano a libro dei ricordi tutte le memorie di atti pubblici e altre scritture pertinenti alla Compagnia, insomma facciano in modo che tutti gli ufficiali e i ministri compiano diligentemente i loro doveri. Terranno una chiave del granaio e della cantina e l'altra il Camerlengo, né la daranno ad alcuno senza andarvi e ritrovarsi presenti, non perché crediamo che il Camerlengo non sia fedele e sincero, ma per togliere via i sospetti e le mormorazioni; per la stessa ragione, fatta la raccolta e finita la vendemmia, si aggiungeranno nell'inventario fatto all'inizio dell'ufficio, tutto il grano, le altre robe raccolte e anche il mosto alla presenza dei Sindaci revisori. Non possano per alcuna via ricevere denari di entrate ordinarie e straordinarie e, finito il loro ufficio si sottopongano al controllo dei sindaci in conformità del capitolo settimo. Procurino di essere più amati che temuti dagli ufficiali e, soprattutto, essendo i primi dei luoghi e degli onori, siano i primi ad osservare i presenti capitoli e, con le opere e il loro esempio, siano specchi, esempio di bene operare per tutti gli altri. Capitolo sesto Dell'ufficio del Camerlengo o Depositario Non ricercandosi minor diligenza nell'eleggere il Camerlengo della Compagnia di quella che si ricerca nel nominare i Priori, avendo egli in mano tutte le robe ed entrate dalle quali dipendono tutte le opere lodevoli che si fanno nella Compagnia, si avvertono gli insaccolatori di eleggere a tale ufficio persona idonea e non sospetta. Il Camerlengo, benché abbia facoltà di spendere per le piccole e consuete cose senza il consenso dei Priori, tuttavia non potrà pagare né spendere denari per qualsiasi causa da tre giulii in su senza il detto mandato, non dovendosi altrimenti ritenere buono dai Sindaci nel rendere i conti; alla fine di ciascun mese farà fare il riepilogo di tutte le spese minute occorse, e delle spese che farà per vigore di qualsiasi mandato, debba farne fare ricevuta a tergo. Userà diligenza nello scrivere nel suo registro, annotando e specificando il nome da chi sono date o prese le robe, il peso, la misura, il numero, il prezzo e il giorno. All'inizio del suo ufficio dovrà prendere in carico ogni cosa per inventario alla presenza dei Priori e dei Sindaci, aggiungendo nel registro, sempre alla presenza dei sopraddetti, il raccolto del grano, del mosto e delle altre cose. Dovrà tenere una chiave del grano, del vino e delle altre robe, mentre l'altra la terrà il Priore, il che si è ordinato solo per rimuovere i sospetti e le mormorazioni; non darà a nessuno la detta chiave senza ritrovarsi presente. Il Camerlengo dovrà ugualmente tenere una chiave delle cassette delle elemosine e l'altra il Priore. Sarà suo dovere riscuotere tutti i lasciti, crediti e altri denari della Compagnia, avvertendo di non lasciare indietro alcun debito o credito per non lasciare confusione ai nuovi ufficiali, forse con danno della chiesa [sic]. In mano sua dovranno pervenire tutti i denari che non si dovranno spendere se non per sua mano; non farà distrazione delle robe ed entrate della Compagnia per convertirle in denari senza la partecipazione dei Priori; finito il tempo dell'incarico consegnerà i suoi libri e l'inventario ai nuovi Sindaci alla presenza dei vecchi e nuovi Priori e si renderanno i conti conformemente al seguente capitolo. Capitolo settimo Dell'ufficio dei Sindaci Benché speriamo che ogni fratello, al quale toccherà qualche ufficio, debba fare il suo dovere diligentemente e con fedeltà, tuttavia, perché a ciascuno è noto quanto siano importanti il giudizio e l'esame degli ufficiali passati, affinché le opere di ognuno siano manifeste e la Compagnia sia servita concretamente, si ordina che i Sindaci che saranno votati nella palla dei nuovi ufficiali, con l'assistenza del vicario foraneo, debbano rendere i conti dell'amministrazione degli ufficiali passati che avranno maneggiato robe e denari della Compagnia; questo sia fatto rapidamente per sommi capi, vedendo solo la realtà del fatto; senza esprimere giudizi si faccia detto controllo entro il termine di dieci giorni, dando assicurazione scritta che verrà consegnata al Segretario affinché la legga in una assemblea generale; resa pubblica, verrà registrata dal Segretario nel registro dei decreti di detta Compagnia. I Sindaci procurino che i nuovi ufficiali piglino l'ufficio col fare l'inventario, dove si specifichi la qualità e quantità delle cose o robe che a quelli si consegneranno e altre circostanze necessarie con la presenza loro, al quale inventario faranno aggiungere, come di sopra tutte le entrate che a suo tempo si ricaveranno dai beni stabili della Compagnia, come grano, vino e biade. Terranno una chiave dell'armario cioè il primo Sindaco una e l'altra il primo Priore. Conformemente a quanto si dirà nel capitolo XIIII, i Sindaci concorreranno ad eleggere gli insaccolatori, conformemente al capitolo XI, interverranno alla assemblea segreta. Sarà cura particolare dei Sindaci "visitare" spesso i beni stabili della Compagnia e procurare che siano ben coltivati e, al possibile, bonificati. Capitolo ottavo Dei Priori dell'ospedale e loro ufficio Sarà carico dei deputati a questo ufficio il sopraintendere al governo dell'ospedale dei poveri e all'ospizio dei padri cappuccini col provvedere quel tanto che farà di bisogno per il servizio di detto ospizio, e di tutte le spese faranno fare mandato, facendolo sottoscrivere come di sopra, da pagarsi per mano del depositario, avvertendo di non comprare robe alle osterie, con maggior spesa della Compagnia, perché non dovrà considerarsi buona l'alterazione dei prezzi. Avvertiranno ancora di non servirsi delle stanze fuori dell'uso convenevole e anche loro siano obbligati a fare tutti gli altri esercizi soliti, dichiarando che nei presenti statuti, facendosi menzione dei Priori, non s'intendono questi dell'ospedale, se non sono specificatamente nominati tali. Capitolo nono Del Segretario e suo ufficio Affinché, tanto dei decreti e risoluzioni che si faranno nelle assemblee, quanto degli infrascritti statuti e di altre scritture pertinenti alla Compagnia, ci sia chi tenga conto del tutto, ordiniamo che ci sia un Segretario il quale dovrà sempre assistere a tutte le riunioni e annotare distintamente tutto quello che si tratterà. Scriverà ancora tutte le lettere missive che occorrono alla giornata, facendole sottoscrivere e sigillare e di quelle terrà copia. Terrà anche conto delle altre lettere che si riceveranno, "facendone filza" [ordinandole], per poterle a suo tempo porre nell'archivio. Noterà in un registro tutti i fratelli e sorelle della Compagnia per ordine alfabetico e se in alcune di dette riunioni il Segretario non fosse presente, qualche altro, su incarico dei Priori, scriverà in un foglio quello che occorrerà, da darsi poi in mano al Segretario affinchè lo riporti sul suo registro; interverrà al momento della resa dei conti e, occorrendo, scriverà gli inventari e altre scritture per la Compagnia. Capitolo decimo Dei Sagrestani e loro ufficio Sarà cura dei sagrestani che la chiesa, l'altare, l'oratorio e tutte le altre robe della sagrestia siano sempre pulite e monde. I sagrestani dovranno assistere la domenica e tutte le feste, alle messe che si celebreranno nella chiesa della Compagnia; saranno diligenti nel far osservare gli obblighi che ha la Compagnia in quanto a messe, funerali e simili e, a questo effetto, dovranno tenere una tabella affissa nella sagrestia, sarà loro cura addobbare con decenza la chiesa nelle feste solite della Compagnia e, per tale effetto, riceveranno dal Camerlengo in denari quel tanto che dai Priori sarà giudicato sufficiente per la spesa di detto apparato, avvertendoli che andrà a loro conto ogni spesa superflua che facessero di loro iniziativa. I Priori avvertiranno ancora detti Sagrestani di non fare, nei giorni di festa "spese straordinarie e indecenti in mangiamenti e refezioni", non dovendole accettare per buone nei conti; se vorranno fare qualche cosa a loro proprie spese sia fatta ancora con ogni temperanza e senza scandalo. I sagrestani renderanno fedele conto ai Priori dei denari e delle elemosine che entrano nella sagrestia ed i Priori dovranno condiscendere ai giusti desideri loro quando facessero istanza, se di dette elemosine e avanzi fatti per loro intervento se ne facesse qualche ornamento per la chiesa o sagrestia durante il loro ufficio. Terranno ancora conto della cera che entrerà nella sagrestia per funerali e altre occasioni. Riceveranno e renderanno per inventario alla presenza dei Priori le robe pertinenti alla sagrestia. Capitolo undicesimo Dell'assemblea segreta Essendo necessario, per la speditezza degli affari della Compagnia, riunirsi spesse volte insieme, e perché sarebbe molto difficile, per ogni circostanza che durante la giornata si presenta, riunire tutti i fratelli, perciò si ordina che una volta al mese, e più o meno secondo che parrà ai Priori, si faccia una riunione segreta, alla quale dovranno intervenire i due Priori, il Camerlengo, i Sindaci, il Segretario e, possibilmente i due Priori vecchi dell'anno precedente, i quali tutti vogliamo che rappresentino la Congregazione [l'Assemblea] segreta, nella quale si possano trattare tutti gli argomenti necessari, proponendo i Priori e rispondendo successivamente gli altri puntualmente; se nel trattare vi sarà controversia, si metterà a votazione e non si potrà prendere decisione in detta riunione se non sono presenti almeno un Priore e cinque altri deputati. Non si possa discutere il problema o prendere una decisione finché non sarà uscito fuori quello (ancorché difficile) che avesse proposto qualche cosa tanto per interesse suo quanto dei suoi sino al terzo grado incluso. La stessa regola si osservi nell'assemblea generale. Detta assemblea segreta avrà facoltà di permettere qualche spesa insolita, però utile per la Compagnia, fino alla somma di tre scudi; alla medesima riunione segreta spetterà di nominare ufficiali nei luoghi che saranno restati vacanti per qualsivoglia accidente, i quali ufficiali saranno nello stesso grado, dignità e ordine che erano quelli insaccolati. Tutto quello che da detta assemblea segreta sarà decretato sia valido come se fosse fatto dall'assemblea generale, ad eccezione però dei casi riservati a detta assemblea generale. Capitolo dodicesimo Della assemblea generale Siccome nella Confraternita tutti i fratelli sono uguali, così la partecipazione ai suoi affari deve essere comune e, presentandosi problemi gravi, si devono risolvere e determinare con il consenso comune; perciò ordiniamo che, oltre la riunione segreta, si devono convocare e riunire tutti i fratelli, tutte quelle volte che ai Priori sembrerà accorgimento utile, in assemblea generale, la quale abbia facoltà di trattare, decidere e risolvere tutti i problemi occorrenti alla Compagnia, proponendo i Priori e rispondendo gli altri puntualmente, dichiarando (per evitare la confusione e il danno della Compagnia) che siano privi di voce attiva e passiva quelli che parleranno quando non tocca loro per ordine in detta assemblea senza avere ottenuto il permesso da uno dei due Priori; questa condizione privatamente duri solamente durante il consiglio o assemblea di quel giorno. Intesi i pareri dei diversi deputati, si metteranno ai voti quelli più "laudabili", e quello che sarà più favorevole rispetto ai voti ottenuti si intenderà approvato. Risolti i problemi e fatti i decreti si rendano pubblici dal segretario con voce intelliggibile; il medesimo si farà nelle riunioni segrete, alle quali assemblee non assisterà alcuno che non sia della Compagnia o che vesta di altre Compagnie e che si presenti armato. Prima che abbiano inizio le riunioni, sia generali sia segrete, si dovrà recitare "Veni Sante Spiritus", come nell'ufficio della Beata Vergine; finita la riunione si reciteranno le preghiere "Post congregatione" come nel medesimo luogo è notato. Capitolo tredicesimo Del modo di mettere i partiti [ai voti] Tutte le votazioni che si andranno a proporre nelle assemblee si devono effettuare per voti segreti, in tutte le riunioni sia generali che segrete e non si intendano valide se i voti non sono più della metà dei fratelli presenti riuniti atti a dare il voto e se non sono i due terzi dei voti favorevoli, come è stato usato sempre in questa Compagnia. Dovendo predisporre per la votazione, si ponga il bossolo davanti ai Priori, dove ordinatamente ciascuno andrà a dare il suo voto; nessuno possa dare voto se non ha almeno quindici anni finiti. Si aprirà poi dal segretario il bossolo davanti a Priori, pubblicamente, e si pubblicheranno e mostreranno i voti a tutta l'assemblea. Capitolo quattordicesimo Del modo di accettare i fratelli Per evitare l'associazione di uomini di cattiva fama e vita scandalosa, al che facilmente da principio si provvede e, successivamente, con difficoltà si rimedia, onde spesse volte succedono scandali e discordie, ordiniamo che, volendo qualcuno entrare a far parte della Compagnia, debba presentare un memoriale ai Priori, i quali, nella prima assemblea generale lo proporranno a votazione ed essendo accettato gli si darà avviso, affinché possa provvedere la veste, o sacco, che farà benedire da qualche sacerdote; sarà poi vestito dal proprio Priore con le solite cerimonie e ammonizioni e allora, non prima, sarà scritto dal segretario nel registro dei fratelli e posto nella tavola pubblica, avvertendolo che per l'avvenire non verranno ammessi nella Compagnia quelli che sono soliti vestire il sacco o la veste di altre compagnie dello stesso luogo. Capitolo quindicesimo Del modo di cancellare i fratelli Occorrendo cancellare qualcuno dei fratelli della Compagnia per qualche giusta causa, questo tale si faccia chiamare davanti ai Priori per sentire se ha qualche legittima difesa; dopo che sarà ascoltato, o non comparendo, il segretario nell'assemblea generale, a nome dei Priori, esporrà la causa. L'assemblea giudicherà a voti segreti e, se il caso proposto meriterà tale punizione, il nome di questo tale si scriverà in un bollettino che verrà stracciato dal Priore; il segretario lo cancellerà nello stesso tempo dal registro e farà nota dei fratelli, in modo tale che se ne faccia perpetua memoria, senza possibilità di essere mai più riammesso. Capitolo sedicesimo Dell'archivio o armario Per conservare i libri e le altre scritture pertinenti alla Compagnia, ove sarà anche l'inventario di detti registri, l'originale dell'inventario delle robe che si consegnano annualmente agli ufficiali, con il quale si confronteranno gli inventari particolari di qualsiasi ufficio, si ordina che vi sia un armario o cassa, dove si conservino tutti i registri, contratti, memorie e altre scritture riguardanti la Compagnia. Il primo Priore terrà una chiave di detto armario o cassa, l'altra la terrà il primo Sindaco. Capitolo diciassettesimo Che non si alienino i beni della Compagnia Desiderando provvedere nei confronti di chi posponesse l'utilità della Compagnia al proprio particolare interesse, stabiliamo che i beni stabili non si possano locare per più di tre anni, e questo con il consenso dell'assemblea generale, né si possano locare a persone, le quali abbiano casa, possessi e altri beni vicini a quelli della Compagnia, affinché non siano usurpati in tutto o in parte e i confini non si sconvolgano. Similmente non si possa locare, vendere o alienare o in qualsiasi modo concedere beni stabili o altre cose ai Priori, al Camerlengo o ad altri ufficiali della Compagnia, né ai loro parenti durante il loro ufficio. Le alienazioni in vita, terze generazioni o perpetue non siano permesse se non quando riguardassero cose dannose, sterili e in caso di grandissima necessità e di evidente utilità della Compagnia, né questo si deliberi senza il consenso dell'assemblea generale, oltre all'approvazione che se ne dovrà ottenere da Monsignor Reverendissimo Vescovo, quando si effettuerà tale alienazione sia fatta a spese del compratore come quando occorresse il sì di qualunque genere. Capitolo diciottesimo Dei prestiti delle robe Poiché prestare le robe della Compagnia è causa di smarrimenti, molte volte per negligenza, oppure di guasti per poca attenzione, con non poco danno di essa, ordiniamo che nessuno possa in qualsiasi modo prestare beni mobili di qualsiasi genere, di proprietà della Compagnia, senza un documento sottoscritto almeno da uno dei Priori, e prestandosi qualche cosa si faccia notare nel registro ciò che è stato prestato e a chi; e quando la riporterà si cancelli. In caso contrario, se le cose prestate perissero o si deteriorassero notevolmente siano a carico di chi le presta. Capitolo diciannovesimo Delle donne che entreranno nella Compagnia Per dare possibilità alle donne che lo vorranno di entrare a far parte della Compagnia ordiniamo che i sagrestani e altri ufficiali che saranno "pro tempore" piglino in nota il nome di quella donna che vorrà entrare nella Compagnia e lo presentino ad uno dei Priori affinché se ne possa prendere debita informazione; dopo aver assunto informazioni e averle trovate idonee, almeno un Priore sottoscriverà quel bollettino, il quale sarà consegnato al segretario affinché lo trascriva nel libro grosso dei fratelli e sorelle della Compagnia delle quali ogni anno gli insaccolatori ne eleggeranno quattro, le quali, con il titolo di Priore, saranno capo e guida di tutte le altre sorelle della Compagnia. Capitolo ventesimo Delle qualità e costumi dei fratelli e sorelle della Compagnia Per ammonire ed avvertire i fratelli e le sorelle di questa Compagnia di incamminarsi ed esercitarsi per la via delle virtù e dei buoni costumi, ci possiamo servire delle ammonizioni ed esortazioni che fa San Paolo nel capitolo quarto delle Epistole che scrive ai Filippesi, ove, dopo molte altre esortazioni vi aggiunge questa: "De cetero, fratres, quaecumque sunt vera, quaecumque onesta, quaecumque sancta, quaecumque amabilia, quaecumque honestae famae, si qua virtus, si qua laus disciplinae, haec cogitate". [Del resto, fratelli, tutto ciò che è vero, tutto ciò che è onesto, tutto ciò che è santo, tutto quello che è amabile, tutto ciò che è rinomato, tutto ciò che è virtuoso e merita lode, sia oggetto del vostro pensiero]. Dovendo riportare da tutto ciò un frutto particolare, questo non sarà altro che quello che lo stesso San Paolo aggiunge: "Deus pacis erit vobiscum". [il Dio della pace sarà con voi] . Se questo riguarda tutti i cristiani, molto di più deve riguardare quelli che, oltre all'obbligo universale della legge cristiana, scegliendo quasi una vita più severa in questa Compagnia, si sono spontaneamente obbligati alle opere di pietà e devozione; per questo vogliamo, dunque, che i fratelli e le sorelle della Compagnia, prima di ogni altra cosa osservino tutti i comandamenti di Dio e della Chiesa, ascoltino ogni giorno la Messa o almeno visitino il Santissimo Sacramento, frequentino i Sacramenti della Confessione e della Comunione, se non una volta al mese, almeno nelle feste principali del Signore e della Madonna, e in particolare per la festa di Santa Croce di maggio e della Madonna di novembre, feste principali della Compagnia, nella propria chiesa tutti insieme. Si esercitino nelle opere di pietà e di misericordia con tutti e in particolare con quelli della Compagnia, soccorrendo i bisognosi, visitando gli infermi di essa, seppellendo i morti, per i quali dovranno far celebrare un ufficio tanto per i fratelli quanto per le sorelle della Compagnia dopo la morte di ciascuno, e fare una particolare orazione per essi. Abbiano qualche devozione particolare e siano riverenti e obbedienti ai superiori, siano solleciti alla frequenza della Compagnia nelle attività e processioni pubbliche, alle quali intervengano sempre con l'abito della Compagnia e con quella modestia pietà e devozione che sono dovute a tale abito, sempre con la faccia coperta e senza cappello in testa. Abbiano sempre davanti agli occhi l'onore e il timore di Dio, perché con tali mezzi verranno ad essere più disposti a conseguire le grazie, e privilegi e le indulgenze concessi a questa Compagnia in conformità di quanto è contenuto più espressamente nelle bolle dell'aggregazione, con l'avvertenza di non lasciare vestire il sacco né di intervenire ad alcune attività a quelli che non sono iscritti alla Compagnia, se non per necessità o convenienza e in questi casi con il permesso degli stessi Priori della Compagnia. Tutti i sopraddetti singoli capitoli, intimati dal Mandatario dell'assemblea generale e quella riunita, furono letti ad alta ed intelliggibile voce da me cancelliere infrascritto, e di nuovo furono accettati ed approvati per voto segreto, nessuno intimamente contrario e il decreto dovrà essere osservato inviolabilmente, riservati il consenso e l'approvazione dell'Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Signore Alessandro del Monte vescovo eugubino per grazia di Dio e della Sede Apostolica dal giorno 23 ottobre 1622. In fede, scrissi e sottoscrissi di mia propria mano Paolo Cibo notaio e cancelliere I capitoli sopraddetti confermati ed approvati dal vescovo eugubino. Capitoli sopra le doti da vincolarsi per le zitelle Per eliminare molti abusi e dare qualche forma al costituire, al distribuire le doti per elemosina alle zitelle e apportare maggior utile ai poveri, onore e decoro alla Compagnia, si stabilisce e determina che per l'avvenire l'assemblea generale pubblica possa vincolare e assegnare una dote o due al più l'anno, secondo che lo consentiranno le entrate e i bisogni della Compagnia, e non più; e ciascuna delle dette doti possa ammontare alla somma di venticinque fiorini e questi non superare. Parimente si ordina e stabilisce che non si possano proporre per tale effetto se non zitelle povere onorate, di buoni costumi, residenti nella Terra di Fratta o nei suoi borghi, e che dei parenti di quelle almeno il padre sia nativo del detto luogo. Nello sborsare le dette doti se ne debba fare atto pubblico per mano del cancelliere della Compagnia, e si debbano dare con patto o condizione, purchè, per tutto il tempo che, e fino a quando avrà conservato una vita casta ed onesta; e anche con patto che, morendo la donna senza figlioli legittimi e naturali, la dote consegnatale debba ritornare ed essere restituita alla Compagnia nel modo migliore, senza la detrazione del terzo o di altro; e a questo effetto si farà mettere in beni stabili la detta dote, o dare sicurtà idonea di restituirla nei sopraddetti casi, non altrimenti. Si determina ancora che le sopraddette doti non si possano assegnare se non nei giorni delle feste principali della Compagnia cioè nella festività di Santa Croce il 3 di maggio, e nella festività della Presentazione della Madonna il 21 di novembre, una però per ciascuna festa, nel caso che piacesse assegnarne una o due, come si è detto di sopra, e nell'assegnarle si leggeranno i memoriali di ciascuna zitella da proporre all'assemblea pubblica e per ciascuna si metterà la decisione a voto segreto e quella che avrà più voti favorevoli si intenderà assegnata, avendo avuto però più dei due terzi dei voti favorevoli, in modo conforme alle disposizioni della Compagnia; e se eventualmente due o più zitelle riportassero un numero uguale di voti, si scriveranno i nomi in due o più schede "conformi" e da quelle si estrarrà a sorte, intendendo per assegnata quella che verrà estratta, dichiarando che i sopraddetti capitoli, tutti e ciascuno di essi in tutto e per tutto si debbano osservare "inviolabilmente" e contravvenendovi, in tutto o in parte sia nullo e di nessuna importanza ogni atto e la dote si consideri non assegnata, né si debba rimborsare la somma a chi la pagasse. Tutti i sopraddetti singoli capitoli, intimati dal Mandatario dell'assemblea generale, e quella riunita, furono letti ad alta ed intelliggibile voce da me cancelliere infrascritto, e furono accettati ed approvati con voto segreto, nessuno intimamente contrario, e il decreto dovrà essere inviolabilmente osservato, riservati il consenso e l'approvazione dell'illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Signore Alessandro del Monte, vescovo eugubino per grazia di Dio e della Sede Apostolica, dal giorno 23 ottobre 1622. Paolo Cibo notaio e cancelliere I Capitoli sopraddetti confermati ed approvati dal Vescovo eugubino Decreto del 16 giugno 1730 Decreto dell'Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Signore Sostegno Maria Cavalli vescovo eugubino, emanato il 16 giugno 1730 in occasione della Sacra visita a questa chiesa della venerabile Confraternita di Santa Croce, e trascritto tra gli altri decreti. Ordiniamo che in futuro nessun fratello eletto della medesima società possa prendere il sacco o la veste e indossarli se non per mano del Priore che amministra al momento, fatti salvi i riti e le cerimonie prescritte nei capitoli della Società e inoltre [ordiniamo] che nessun confratello possa essere accolto, eletto o ammesso oltre il numero di quaranta confratelli, altrimenti l'elezione o l'ammissione sia, in ambedue i casi, nulla immediatamente. Pietro Nalducci segretario Decreto del 6 giugno 1741 L'Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Signore Sostegno Maria Cavalli vescovo eugubino, in occasione della sacra visita effettuata nella chiesa di Santa Croce di questa Terra di Fratta, essendo il suo animo mosso da giusta causa, derogando in quella parte del capitolo XIV ordinò che in futuro la Confraternita non accolga nuovi confratelli se non mediante il consiglio segreto. Così è il 6 giugno 1741. Fratta, in occasione della sacra visita, come sopra Firmato S. M. Cavalli (aggiunta postuma) C. Leandro de Bonfatti Cancelliere vescovile generale