WEBVTT

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People from Here

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Welcome back to People from Here.
What we want to tell you today

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is the story of two young people,
of two young people with high hopes.

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There is Adelina,
a brilliant lawyer who works

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at a prestigious legal firm in Milan.
Then there is Ettore,

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an industrial chemist.
The future can only smile

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upon Adelina and Ettore.
Actually,

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their future will be more turbulent
thank they could have ever imagined.

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In fact,
in 1938 Ettore and Adelina are Jewish.

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On September 18th,
from the balcony of Trieste's town hall,

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Benito Mussolini announced
for the first time the Racial Laws

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for the defense of the race.

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The world of those two young people
suddenly collapses under their feet.

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We will tell this story
about Ettore and Adelina

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on the eve of the day.
We will tell it with the son

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of Ettore and Adelina,
Daniele Finzi, who in 2011,

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decided to donate
his parents letters and documents

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to The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

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Shortly we will also discuss why
this choice was made.

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Now I would like to start
with September 1938.

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with Mussolini's announcement
of the laws for the defense of the race.

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Ettore and Adelina immediately started
to understand that there wasn't

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a future for them in that country.

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Deciding to leave was
was a difficult decision to make.

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It was a difficult decision,
but one that will save their lives.

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Yes, my father Ettore Finzi was
very knowledgable about history.

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Also because he knew German very well.

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He had two aunts, aunt Genie
and aunt Lazigudita Gentiluomo,

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who both lived in Vienna.

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He had followed all
the Nazi antisemitism up to March 1938.

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So when the Race Manifesto was published
in July 1938,

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he didn't expect it.

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He knew what the contents were about
and he also hoped that Italy would be

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a little different from Germany.

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And my father, more than my mother,
made quick and immediate decisions.

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He was also very intuitive.
He had known my mom only a few months,

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and he returns
to these months in April 1938.

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It was love at first sight,

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and because of the Race Manifesto
and the Racial Laws,

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they decided to get married.

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They were married in Milan
on December 1, 1938.

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In 1938. We arrive in 1939.
- Yes.

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An ominous date for many.
- Yes.

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Very unjust, but there is a turning point.
- There is a...

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Ettore and Adelina decide to leave.
Or rather, how do they depart?

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Because, in a sense,
they leave informed.

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Yes and no.
The problem is immediate

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and that of money.

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Because the White Paper of the British,

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from perhaps February
or March of 1939,

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allowed a total of 75,000 Jews

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to enter Palestine for five years.

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However, to qualify to enter,
every person needed to have 1,000 stars.

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Because, like we said, they had chosen.
- To go to...

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The goal was Palestine.
- Yes.

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The choice was not a coincidence,
because my father had also thought

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about Latin America.

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But the idea of going 
to Palestine was because it was nearby.

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He was from Trieste so it was close.

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He also hoped his parents could join him.

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In any case, 
the issue of money was really

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a huge problem
because they didn't have any.

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So, thanks to the lawyer Gianni Morandi,
who was the owner of the firm

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where my mom worked,
they went to Zurich for their honeymoon.

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Then they went to Lugano
to gather clients for the lawyer.

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It was to put towards this large sum.
And I still remember two leather bags

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with thousands of little stars inside.
They were gold little stars.

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At this point, they reach Palestine.
A tangent here about Palestine.

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The State of Israel still didn't exist.

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There wasn't any money to protect them.
Therefore, they had to start from scratch.

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Yes, and so, they started all over again
from January to April 1, 1939.

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They arrived in Haifa on April 6th.

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Yes, because as of 1922,
the British controlled Palestine.

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There were Palestinian Arabs.
The Jewish Palestinians were organized

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by the <i>Yishuv</i>, who were more concerned
with the <i>kibbutz</i> and wanted

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to dedicate themselves
to agriculture, etc.

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But the foundation, the political one,
was led by the Arab agency.

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The Arab agency was, well,
I'll give you an example.

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They arrived in Tel Aviv on April 7th
and twenty days after,

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they were in school learning modern Hebrew
because there were various Jews

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in Tel Aviv from every part of Europe.
It was necessary

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to learn this common language.
So, there was some organization,

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but there were a lot of problems.

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In any case, where I mentally find...
- Ah yes.

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this small amount of protection.
However, they had to start...

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Yes, they had to restart.
- from scratch.

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On the other hand, however,
there was a lot of bitterness

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that was left behind by the fact
of having to abandon...

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Yes.
- Italy.

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Having to leave Italy was stressful.
- Yes.

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In regard to this,
I will also read an excerpt

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from the letters
that have been donated to the archive,

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diaries in which Ettore specifically tells
about what he was feeling shortly after

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the time in which he abandoned Italy.

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We will read this excerpt:
"When I left Italy four months ago,

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"feeling more disgusted by the burden
of having to leave the country

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"than for the imminent danger,
many of my colleagues

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"and friends were quick
to express to me their discontent

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"about what was happening.

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"Through their conversations,
I felt they knew about condolences

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"and they ended up
only making me withdraw.

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"They were whispered conversations solely
because they knew me

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"and thought highly of me.
For many, being an example against

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"the persecution of Jews not being born
in Italy, could also be considered fair,

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"because it is understood that they came
to the country to make a fortune

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"by going behind other's backs.
They had some expert political views.

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"The Fascist government's right
to persecute people that it had let into

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"the country was generally recognized."

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Okay, so Ettore felt betrayed by Italy?

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Without a doubt.
As I was saying prior,

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also because my father was from Trieste.

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From his father, my grandfather,
he had also received an irredentist

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and nationalist upbringing.

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Trieste has always been divided
between people from Trieste, Austria...

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Let's say Austrians.

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and irredentists,
those who love Italy, Italian culture,

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Italian language,
like my grandfather and the Slovenians.

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He had received this upbringing,
and so he was an irredentist nationalist.

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Additionally, he was a genius official,
and he felt like an Italian.

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He loved Italy
and he felt betrayed by this terrible law.

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In addition, in Ettore's letters,
in this text, it also highlights

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a responsibility
by the Italian people themselves

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for what was happening.

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He writes:
"The political maturity

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"of the Italian people
is apparently that of government rule

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"that it has and that it deserves."

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There is a precise responsibility
by the people.

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Well, the Italian people's problem...
(Laughter)

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Living yes...
like saying living today like yesterday.

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In other words,
the lack of personal responsibility

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and accepting anything,
like a leader or a guide,

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that which has
an uglier appearance, if you will.

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And that Trieste...
Not coincidentally Mussolini

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and September 18, 1938,
where they were

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at the Unity of Italy Square
to present the Racial Laws.

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Not only because of
the nationalism that was there,

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but because Trieste was
a very multiethnic, multicultural city.

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There were more than two centuries
in which ethnic groups were diverse.

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They coexisted.

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But at the very moment
in which Mussolini showed his cruelty

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towards Jews, who, I repeat,
were real Italians, and felt as such,

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and had also fought
for Italy during the First World War,

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At the point, everyone was inclined
to accept Fascist rule.

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We return to Ettore and Adelina,
who, because of their decisions,

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leave the Second World War behind,
in which the persecution of Jews

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and the holocaust is about to start.

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They leave behind the errors of the war,
however, like you said, they face a life

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that is not easy.

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Like we said,
Adelina was a lawyer with a great career.

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She finds herself having
to start her work up again.

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Yes, because the main difficulty was
a work shortage.

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There was an excess of workers
(Laughter)

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from Tel Aviv.
And then, there were few jobs

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or they were completely insecure.

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Another big problem was
a housing shortage.

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So much so that my parents were forced
to live with a family,

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with a Polish family in an apartment.

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Above all,
the main difficulty was the work shortage.

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Also because the two bags
of the two thousand stars were not

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to be touched at all.
My father was not flexible.

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My mom then, as long as my father remained
in Tel Aviv until August 23, 1944,

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when he went to work
at the British oil refinery...

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(Interviewer Talking)

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No, he was also with my mom
because they then had my sister first,

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and then I was born in 1942.
So when my father left,

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he felt the obligation to work
to support the family.

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He also liked the idea
of having money to freely spend.

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As mentioned, your mother was free...
- Yes, free.

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in Palestine.
- Yes.

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Your father, on the other hand,
had to move abroad to Persia

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because, meanwhile, he found work
with an oil company.

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So two lovers who find themselves
far apart in a foreign land,

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and the only point of contact
between these two people becomes

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the writing, the letters
that will then become so important

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for documentation, for their memories.
- Yes.

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In fact, if my father accepts
this two year contract

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with this Iranian company,
he would be in Abadan in Persia.

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And it was indeed a military zone.

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He would do his work there
as an industrial chemist.

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Of course, he had to detach
and leave his wife,

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his children in Tel Aviv.

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Then, although very tired,
every evening my mom wrote

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and reported what had happened
during her workday,

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because she had found work
with a company that was part

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of the Tel Aviv pharmaceutical industry.
After then being fired,

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she went to work at a house to iron.
So, she could do anything.

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She reported with great ability,
descriptive, careful about everything

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that went on during the day.
Rather, my father sometimes wrote letters

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with extensive description.
He explained to her a bit about his duty,

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weather problems because it was very hot,
relationships with the British,

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and with the local population
that was in truly devastating conditions.

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They were letters that,
among other things...

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If you permit me a tangent.
They were things one absolutely knew

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but I didn't even know
the letters existed.

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Then perhaps we can also elaborate
on how they were found.

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Then also about how the decision
to publish them came about.

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Let's go back.
We had said that while Ettore

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and Adelina were in Palestine,
their children were born.

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Yes, my sister...
- You were born

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and your sister Ana was born.

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It is fitting that the future
of these two children was often focused on

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in these letters that Ettore
and Adelina exchange.

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I would like to read another
particularly significant passage

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that is again written by Ettore
from Abadan in February 23, 1945:

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"If on one hand, the war tends
to be nearing its end, on the other,

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"for us, the situation in Palestine
is taking a favorable turn.

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"These days, I am overthinking
and continuously thinking

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"about the problem and worried,
not so much about our personal future,

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"but the future of our children.
I feel irresistibly taken towards

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"a solution that,
although never once explored,

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"today seems inevitable to me.

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"Perhaps in a year's time we will find
the need to have to return to Italy.

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"Then they will become
one hundred percent Italians."

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Probably if your father could have chosen,
he would have never wanted

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to return to Italy.

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Yes, I would not have wanted to also.
Quite the opposite because my father,

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due to having been betrayed by Italy,
deeply desired to return to Italy.

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Apart from the experience in Abadan,
also because life

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in Palestine was truly very hard,
very difficult because

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of the work problem,
and the problem of the lack of apartments.

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However, we can't forget
that the attention

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from the Palestinian Arabs
and the British made life difficult.

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If we could return back in time...
- Yes.

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In September 1940, Tel Aviv was bombed
by Italian planes, right?

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Yes.
- They bombed Tel Aviv

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and it seems like there were one hundred
and fifty two deaths.

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So life was very hard.
Another tangent.

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I mean,
one of the big problems was also food.

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For example, my sister and I went
to the <i>gan</i>, which was like kindergarten.

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To help you understand, at lunch they used
to give us half an egg to eat.

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On the other hand,
while facing this situation,

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the hope of returning
to Italy continuously remained.

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And how did Adelina live
with the hope of returning?

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I will read another significant passage:
"I will never ask those taking that step.

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"Here I feel undoubtedly hesitant
by instinct and by force of tradition.

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"And I won't ever ask myself,
not only out of obedience,

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"but because more than anything else,
I am concerned

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"about doing everything possible
for the future of our children."

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It's like saying,
she was also willing to do her part.

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There was a sense of pride
of returning to Italy,

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that country that had dismissed them,
in order to guarantee

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a future for you children.

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Here there is a...
(Laughter)

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There are many letters.
In any case, when my father says

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that they will become
one hundred percent Italians,

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he also proposes to my mom
the idea of converting to Catholicism,

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because we were Jews.
- (Interviewer) Of course.

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Meanwhile, the Finzi from Trieste were
almost completely assimilated.

00:19:55.477 --> 00:19:58.485
That is to say,
they went to the temple twice a year.

00:19:59.018 --> 00:20:04.070
Instead, my mom was
from a much more orthodox family,

00:20:04.394 --> 00:20:12.133
They came from the Parrdo,
a very important Iberian family.

00:20:12.243 --> 00:20:18.744
Parrdo which used to be Prado.
They came from Spain after the expulsion.

00:20:18.744 --> 00:20:25.372
So my father proposes this idea
of converting to Catholicism

00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:30.822
in order for his children...
- To become...

00:20:30.845 --> 00:20:34.506
Yes, to become entirely Italian,
even as a religion.

00:20:34.546 --> 00:20:39.192
However my mom... Here it says
that she was reluctant.

00:20:39.192 --> 00:20:46.739
Not because she was personally orthodox,
but because, in that moment when

00:20:46.755 --> 00:20:51.589
it was known what was happening
in Europe, the extermination camps

00:20:51.603 --> 00:20:56.844
or another difficult situation,
they absolutely didn't know

00:20:56.844 --> 00:21:00.557
where my paternal
and maternal grandparents were.

00:21:00.576 --> 00:21:08.617
Then, however, the news arrived,
even betraying the origin and...

00:21:08.617 --> 00:21:12.320
It was quite heavy.
- Yes, very heavy.

00:21:12.716 --> 00:21:18.527
By the way, how did the news
about the war arrive meanwhile

00:21:18.527 --> 00:21:22.558
it continued in Europe?
Was there just an awareness

00:21:22.558 --> 00:21:25.522
of what was happening?
Was there an awareness

00:21:25.522 --> 00:21:29.823
of the existence
of the extermination camps?

00:21:29.823 --> 00:21:32.752
Above all, how did they also live
with these dual feelings?

00:21:32.752 --> 00:21:34.860
Because, on the one hand,
there was this hope

00:21:34.860 --> 00:21:38.927
of being able to return one day
to a normal life in Italy.

00:21:39.219 --> 00:21:42.063
On the other hand, however,
there was a lot of fear

00:21:42.063 --> 00:21:43.818
also for the fate of loved ones.

00:21:44.824 --> 00:21:46.517
They knew everything.

00:21:47.017 --> 00:21:52.128
Both about the Jewish agency
and the British.

00:21:52.571 --> 00:21:56.747
The news arrived quite detailed.

00:21:57.497 --> 00:22:05.452
I don't want to forget a noteworthy group
of young Jews that were part

00:22:05.813 --> 00:22:09.149
of the Jewish brigade.

00:22:09.677 --> 00:22:16.170
They fought alongside the British
and they also fought in Italy.

00:22:16.170 --> 00:22:18.341
Then in all of Europe.

00:22:18.341 --> 00:22:26.481
They were the ones who said
that they gave very detailed news

00:22:26.481 --> 00:22:27.564
of what was happening.

00:22:27.607 --> 00:22:33.865
So, they knew about everything
that was coming to Italy and Europe.

00:22:34.403 --> 00:22:43.692
The concerns were
about my paternal grandparents,

00:22:43.692 --> 00:22:47.884
those who later died in Auschwitz,
that they didn't...

00:22:47.884 --> 00:22:55.785
The last official news was transmitted
by a type of telegram of the Red Cross

00:22:55.785 --> 00:23:01.763
in July of 1943.
My father knew absolutely nothing.

00:23:02.081 --> 00:23:09.052
My mom didn't know.
She knew that her parents were hidden.

00:23:09.062 --> 00:23:10.957
Her brother was in Switzerland.

00:23:11.467 --> 00:23:14.317
But they had absolutely no news.

00:23:14.577 --> 00:23:21.794
They couldn't say or write anything
because the mail was altered.

00:23:22.605 --> 00:23:26.074
Outgoing and incoming mail was altered.

00:23:26.634 --> 00:23:32.638
I found that at least some details
in the letters had been deleted precisely

00:23:32.638 --> 00:23:36.744
by the person that did the alterations.

00:23:36.744 --> 00:23:40.883
So, dad needed to be careful
because they were altered by the British.

00:23:41.214 --> 00:23:45.502
They were altered by the Persians.
Then they were altered on arrival

00:23:45.529 --> 00:23:47.114
in Palestine.
So, they were...

00:23:47.114 --> 00:23:50.453
In this situation,
they also found themselves in a state

00:23:50.453 --> 00:23:58.370
of uncertainty being far from Europe,
far from what was happening

00:23:58.370 --> 00:24:01.969
in Europe,
far from the war.

00:24:03.069 --> 00:24:08.373
For a moment, Adelina perhaps had hoped,
from what Ledi writes,

00:24:09.343 --> 00:24:16.133
that her family would have an advantage
over the immense tragedy

00:24:16.133 --> 00:24:18.035
that afflicted the Jews of Europe.

00:24:18.035 --> 00:24:21.255
That they would all find themselves
reunited upon their return.

00:24:21.255 --> 00:24:23.765
There was almost this illusion, this hope.

00:24:24.060 --> 00:24:28.838
Having high hopes is often the last idea.
They did have hope.

00:24:29.025 --> 00:24:38.351
They didn't have detailed news
even if my dad's brother

00:24:38.351 --> 00:24:47.722
a doctor who lived in Bologna,
but in the mountains

00:24:47.722 --> 00:24:50.638
in the area
of Monghidoro and Loiano.

00:24:51.167 --> 00:24:55.290
He knew
that his parents had been arrested,

00:24:55.293 --> 00:24:56.843
that they had been deported.

00:24:57.233 --> 00:25:02.545
However, he had not communicated anything.
Even though, assuming they went

00:25:02.905 --> 00:25:07.841
to Auschwitz, there could have always been
the hope of returning.

00:25:07.841 --> 00:25:11.431
Therefore, they hoped.

00:25:11.471 --> 00:25:14.635
Unfortunately, however,
the terrible news was that they arrived.

00:25:14.635 --> 00:25:19.609
They also arrived in Palestine while
the war by now...

00:25:19.609 --> 00:25:22.092
It was over.
- By now it was over.

00:25:22.276 --> 00:25:26.075
And like you said,
the terrible news arrived by mail.

00:25:26.425 --> 00:25:31.742
News so terrible
that Adelina cannot even transcribe them

00:25:31.742 --> 00:25:34.243
in a letter to Ettore.
She writes:

00:25:34.443 --> 00:25:38.045
"My dear, unfortunately,
the dreary news has arrived.

00:25:38.265 --> 00:25:41.129
"I am sending you the letter
because I don't have the courage

00:25:41.129 --> 00:25:42.330
"to write about it."

00:25:42.330 --> 00:25:47.086
It's terrible.
Unfortunately, they were reactions

00:25:47.086 --> 00:25:51.568
to what had just happened
in the war in Europe.

00:25:51.726 --> 00:25:55.684
In a communication letter separate
from the international cross.

00:25:55.747 --> 00:25:59.343
Maybe in that exact moment Ettore
and Adelina understood

00:25:59.503 --> 00:26:03.378
what they had escaped from?

00:26:03.672 --> 00:26:08.954
Yes without a doubt.
I will also tell you

00:26:08.954 --> 00:26:14.162
that when my father had
the idea of going to Palestine,

00:26:14.865 --> 00:26:19.670
everyone criticized him;
friends, parents, brothers, the sister,

00:26:19.916 --> 00:26:25.663
because they said:
"You are always pessimistic".

00:26:26.395 --> 00:26:31.497
He would rather have wanted them all
to also come with him.

00:26:32.038 --> 00:26:38.689
However, he expected it,
also because the war

00:26:38.693 --> 00:26:44.123
in Europe ended on May 8, 1945.

00:26:44.123 --> 00:26:46.587
The news gets to him in August.

00:26:47.357 --> 00:26:53.147
Given that months go by
where he doesn't receive

00:26:53.147 --> 00:26:57.154
positive news,
he feared for the lives of his parents.

00:26:57.584 --> 00:27:00.054
Excuse me but if you permit me.
- (Interviewer) Sure.

00:27:00.054 --> 00:27:07.560
But before the communication
about the deaths of his parents,

00:27:07.560 --> 00:27:14.963
he received communication from Sweden
that said his sister was saved.

00:27:15.716 --> 00:27:23.150
Then my aunt Yolanda Clara was part
of that group of prisoners

00:27:23.153 --> 00:27:27.999
that were moved
from Auschwitz in December 1944.

00:27:27.999 --> 00:27:33.160
They were moved west
so as not to leave a mass

00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:39.981
of prisoners in Auschwitz,
because the Red Army was coming.

00:27:40.409 --> 00:27:49.088
She was then liberated
in the north of Ravensbrück in April 1945.

00:27:49.088 --> 00:27:53.022
She was then transferred
to Sweden to recover.

00:27:53.535 --> 00:27:59.169
We have said that at this point,
the war had ended and Ettore and Adelina

00:27:59.403 --> 00:28:04.396
along with their children decide
to return to Italy.

00:28:04.714 --> 00:28:09.234
How difficult was it once again to start
from scratch because they actually had

00:28:09.234 --> 00:28:10.284
to start from scratch.

00:28:10.290 --> 00:28:12.409
Ah yes.
It was difficult.

00:28:12.619 --> 00:28:17.951
My father's brother helped him
with a job at his work in Sansepolcro.

00:28:18.460 --> 00:28:22.143
He spoke with Mr. Marco Vittoni,
who said:

00:28:22.143 --> 00:28:26.364
"I am willing to hire your brother
because he is a chemist.

00:28:26.660 --> 00:28:32.109
Also, I want a change
for the company, etc."

00:28:32.662 --> 00:28:39.780
But when we arrived in Italy in May 1946,
with a short stop in Bologna

00:28:39.780 --> 00:28:42.266
and then to Parma
with my maternal grandparents,

00:28:42.571 --> 00:28:48.811
and then to Sansepolcro precisely
in November of 1946,

00:28:49.216 --> 00:28:51.122
and we had absolutely nothing.

00:28:51.898 --> 00:28:54.352
And there was nothing...
(Laughter)

00:28:54.355 --> 00:28:58.512
<i>Without a doubt, a country in devastation.</i>
- Yes, a country in devastation.

00:28:58.512 --> 00:29:03.040
I remember the path with holes.
I remember the Tower of Berta Square

00:29:03.040 --> 00:29:06.523
in a pile of ruins.
- The Tower of Berta Square was destroyed.

00:29:06.771 --> 00:29:12.297
I repeat, it was also a problem to eat.

00:29:12.307 --> 00:29:16.527
I remember my dad rented
a furnished apartment

00:29:16.527 --> 00:29:21.762
in Saint Claire Square
in which the conditions were really...

00:29:21.911 --> 00:29:24.129
Insecure.
- Very, very insecure.

00:29:24.129 --> 00:29:28.309
However, they were young
and they wanted to start over.

00:29:28.707 --> 00:29:36.089
There was my sister and myself.
So, they wanted to put a painful time

00:29:36.212 --> 00:29:39.382
of their lives behind them and start over.

00:29:39.546 --> 00:29:44.762
You have previously already answered
that there was resentment towards

00:29:44.762 --> 00:29:49.694
that country that made them escape
and also towards those friends

00:29:49.701 --> 00:29:52.467
that...
- No.

00:29:52.467 --> 00:29:59.018
had put down the idea of the...
- No, absolutely not.

00:29:59.018 --> 00:30:02.690
Other than it being something
that is part of our DNA,

00:30:02.690 --> 00:30:09.575
resentment is useless.
It's best to move forward,

00:30:09.945 --> 00:30:17.035
to have the will to start again
and to overcome difficulties.

00:30:17.035 --> 00:30:21.218
Not resentment.
I never heard my father

00:30:21.218 --> 00:30:28.901
nor my mother speak ill of Italians.
Yes, it was upsetting to have lost, right.

00:30:29.271 --> 00:30:30.701
(Interviewer talking)
- Yes.

00:30:30.701 --> 00:30:36.332
To having lost parents.
To having lost years of work.

00:30:36.342 --> 00:30:41.473
My mom could not return to work
in Milan because there was no way

00:30:41.773 --> 00:30:42.766
to find a home.

00:30:44.518 --> 00:30:52.924
In 2011, Ettore Finzi's
and Adelina's epistolary was donated

00:30:52.985 --> 00:30:57.000
to the Pieve diary archives.
It's awarded the <i>Premio Pieve</i>.

00:30:57.048 --> 00:31:02.938
First and foremost, how were you able
to find these letters again,

00:31:02.938 --> 00:31:06.449
because they were made public
by the decision of donating them.

00:31:07.287 --> 00:31:11.526
My father died on June 18, 2002.

00:31:12.364 --> 00:31:20.882
He lived in an apartment in Parma.
In August I was ready to let go of it.

00:31:21.592 --> 00:31:31.633
By chance, I found a bag in his office,
a leather one that held documents.

00:31:31.961 --> 00:31:37.794
There were letters inside
this document holder.

00:31:38.691 --> 00:31:42.948
And there were two notebooks,
black ones with a red border

00:31:42.948 --> 00:31:46.454
that were used in the past,
and inside was his diary.

00:31:47.307 --> 00:31:51.653
I understood right away
because I have done historical research

00:31:51.653 --> 00:31:55.636
for many years, so I understood
it was something interesting.

00:31:56.012 --> 00:31:59.670
I found it strange
that my father never told me anything,

00:31:59.670 --> 00:32:06.051
because he didn't say to me:
"Look, there are letters and diaries".

00:32:06.651 --> 00:32:10.739
And so I took them all to my house,
to my office and I left them there

00:32:10.739 --> 00:32:12.900
for a year, a year and a half.

00:32:13.340 --> 00:32:16.764
Then I slowly began to read them
with a bit of fear.

00:32:17.468 --> 00:32:21.698
Because with diaries and letters...
- (Interviewer) One will find...

00:32:21.698 --> 00:32:26.119
always find something intimate.
Then I think in my family,

00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:31.574
nothing would ever be talked about.
No one had ever commented,

00:32:31.574 --> 00:32:35.297
or made references.

00:32:35.899 --> 00:32:40.136
Then I gradually began
to transcribe these letters.

00:32:40.136 --> 00:32:43.847
I can't tell you how I did so,
because they were written...

00:32:43.907 --> 00:32:45.573
(Interviewer) <i>No doubt handwritten.</i>

00:32:45.573 --> 00:32:49.340
Yes, handwritten with a fountain pen,
on tissue paper,

00:32:49.339 --> 00:32:51.847
because back then it was airmail paper.

00:32:52.177 --> 00:32:58.997
To sum up, it was a type of job
that strained the eyes.

00:32:59.587 --> 00:33:05.460
In any case, I did this transcription job
of the diary, of the letters, etc.

00:33:05.460 --> 00:33:08.166
I had the idea of publishing it.

00:33:08.764 --> 00:33:16.672
The full version of this diary,
of these letters...

00:33:17.305 --> 00:33:22.759
Um... Just to be certain...
I was already collaborating

00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:26.979
with the diary archives
for some time for my own research

00:33:27.239 --> 00:33:30.529
in the fields of Rinisce, Paganini, etc.

00:33:31.029 --> 00:33:35.870
Just to be certain,
I went to Pieve Santo Stefano

00:33:36.760 --> 00:33:39.580
and I had the volume in hand.

00:33:40.172 --> 00:33:43.176
It was Cristina Cangi, who you will meet.

00:33:43.946 --> 00:33:46.926
And she asked me:
"What is it professor"?

00:33:46.930 --> 00:33:52.301
"It's this work that I did".
- "Why don't you submit it for the award"?

00:33:52.930 --> 00:33:57.267
I say I really had not thought
about wanting to publish it.

00:33:58.045 --> 00:34:04.696
I start reading some interesting things
and then I submit it.

00:34:04.965 --> 00:34:09.972
They asked me for the archive
and also for the letters,

00:34:09.972 --> 00:34:11.745
but I wasn't going to do that.

00:34:11.781 --> 00:34:17.007
It's possible
to read this publication

00:34:17.007 --> 00:34:19.611
that is titled <i>Transparenti</i>,
in which the documentation

00:34:19.611 --> 00:34:23.531
is presented
and published by <i>Il Mulino</i>.

00:34:23.876 --> 00:34:28.396
Our arrangement time has ended,
although we would like to talk for hours

00:34:28.396 --> 00:34:34.272
about this story that is a bit similar,
by certain passages and elements,

00:34:34.272 --> 00:34:36.660
to the story
of many other families,

00:34:36.895 --> 00:34:41.568
also of the province of Arezzo.
Perhaps there will be a way

00:34:41.568 --> 00:34:46.937
to talk more about it in the future.
Thank you Daniele Finzi.

00:34:46.937 --> 00:34:52.562
Thanks to all of you
who have followed our episode,

00:34:52.562 --> 00:34:54.776
a special episode
that was made possible

00:34:54.776 --> 00:35:00.425
in collaboration
with The Archives of Pieve Santo Stefano.

00:35:00.425 --> 00:35:05.443
I naturally thank The Archives.
In particular,

00:35:05.443 --> 00:35:08.245
the archives
for this episode were made available

00:35:08.245 --> 00:35:10.337
by Nadia Frulli.

00:35:10.630 --> 00:35:15.067
Thank you to all of you
for watching the program.