FILO - Spring 2013

FILĂ’

A Journal for Tyrolean Americans Spring 2013

2

An Introduction . . .

The Filò is to be published and distributed on a quarterly basis and is targeted to the children of our immigrant parents. The Filò (pronounced fee-lò) was the daily gathering in the stables of the Trentino where the villagers met and socialized. The intent is to provide a summary of our culture, history, and customs in plain English to inform and provide you with the background of your roots and ancestry.. If you wish to contact us, call Lou Brunelli at 914-402-5248. Attention: Your help is needed to expand our outreach to fellow Tyrolean Americans. Help us identify them, be they your children, relatives or acquaintances. Go to filo.tiroles.com and register on line to receive the magazine free of charge. You may also send your data to Filò Magazine, PO Box 90, Crompond, NY 10517 or fax them to 914-734-9644 or submit them by email to filo.tiroles@att.net.

Front Cover: The Sanctuary of San Romedio

3

Photos Trentino Sviluppo S.p.A. - R. Kiaulehn, C. Baroni, M. De Biasi, L. Schneider

Trentino the return of the spring

Tourists arriving in Trentino are always fascinated by the area’s wealth of natural heritage. It is one of the favourite destinations of lovers of the outdoors all year round. There is, moreover, a religious and cultural heritage of great value here that intertwines with nature: a meaningful opportunity to experience the area and understand its history, identity and culture. Come and discover the simple beauty, nature and spirituality in Trentino.

WWW.VISITTRENTINO.IT 4

W

The Cooperative Movement

The government at Innsbruck allotted 700 florins to be distributed among the most desperate. But how could one rank degrees of absolute poverty and starvation?

Don Lorenzo suggested using the money to buy corn meal that could be distributed to the farmers at a price lower than local commercial rates. The endeavour was a success and led to the founding of the first co-operative consortium in Villa di Bleggio in 1890. In truth there is another factor that pushed Don Lorenzo into action: a request from his compaesani of Quadra to introduce also in Trentino “emergency loans” “mutue di pronto soccorso”, which they had already had experience with in Piedmont at the time they emigrated to Italy in search of work Naturally the business community tried to spread rumors of the sort that “the subsidies for the poor people end up on the priests’ plates”, but the common people understood who was on their side.

hat rendered Don Lorenzo Guetti (1847 1898) immortal in Trentino history was the creation of the co-operative system, that is, the Casse Rurali and the Famiglie Cooperative, both of which became social and economic entities that made an enormous contribution to the well-being and dignity of the people in our region. Don Guetti’s creations brought about a sort of rebirth for our valleys and villages, a veritable springtime in social and economic terms, giving hope and a future for Trentini people; all because a simple country priest was able to truly comprehend the needs of his fellow Trentini. He had dedicated himself to studying possible “solutions” to the agrarian crisis of the time, trying to identify possible strategies for surviving the crisis. He then set out with boundless determination to build the co-operative networks that still exist today. It could be argued that Don Guetti didn’t really invent anything but merely applied to Trentino what had already been done in England, Germany and the Austrian empire (which our territory was part of at the time). It can also be said that the “time was right” in the last decades of the 1800`s. In Austria until 1773 the government had issued laws that granted economic assistance for the development of co-operative credit initiatives. In Trentino the provincial agricultural council declared its willingness to support such activities. Indeed, in 1883 Don Silvio Lorenzoni, a priest from the Val di Non, issued a loud call for help from the provincial agricultural council, essentially begging “someone” to take the reins – and the accompanying responsibility – and move ahead with these direly needed social and economic networks.

Inspired, Guetti took up study of the issues, convinced that what was needed foremost was the creation of the Casse Rurali (access to credit was of primary concern) and then the Famiglie Cooperative. But events obliged him to invert this order. The first was a natural catastrophe which struck all of western Trentino on 21-22 May, 1887. In his remarks, Don Lorenzo described “hail, snow, ice, storms of all sort … all at once … a total disaster! So many dreams destroyed in an instant! Mulberry trees, grapevines, nut trees, other fruit trees reduced to nothing, burnt, dried up. It breaks your heart just to set foot outside these poor homes, the desolation is total.”

By the end of May everything was lost and the specter of absolute misery and starvation appeared inevitable to the beaten-down farmers in the Giudicarie valley.

Things were even more complicated for the Casse Rurali.

Don Guetti wrote: “Now the credit agencies must continue their work (. . .). No sooner does one generous person take up an initiative that can be truly helpful to others than the campaign to discredit him with lies and slander starts . . .”. Don Guetti was nonetheless convinced that “the Casse Rurali should be the first priority of every community … so that everyone can have access to funds for basic needs”; he thus struggled to overcome every hurdle that was thrown down to block him, but inspired by the system set up by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, a German layperson working in the spirit of the gospel, Don Guetti founded the first Cassa Rurale of his village, Quadra, in July 1892. In his words it was “a universal innovation for Trentino”. The “joyful revolution” had been accomplished. For Don Guetti this also represented the message of the gospel put into practice; the words in the Acts of the Apostles “There is more joy in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35) had been brought to life. Upon the death of “the apostle of cooperation in Trentino” in 1898, there were 51 Casse Rurali in Trentino and the family co-operatives numbered 107. Only six and eight years after their respective beginnings, a network designed to improve the wellbeing and to build on the hopes and dreams of residents had been established throughout the territory.

Written by Don Marcello Farina

5

Family Stories: Eleonor Pia Valentini

sister to work at a factory sewing coats. I met your father, Angelo and at age 21 we were married. Then you, Lawrence were born in 1933 and Mary in 1935. Now I am blessed to have three granddaughters and two greatgranddaughters and two great-grandsons whom I love to see. I believe that raising children was the best time in my was born on March 21, 1910 in Ohio. My parents life, and I was rewarded because you were good children, were born in the Tirolo Province of Austria obedient and always interested in stories about our fami(which after WW I became part of Italy), before ly, our culture, language, songs. etc.” moving to the United States in the late 1800’s.

While in Europe, my father, your nonno, worked as a “Being 103 years old, there have been many new invenfarmer in the town of Cles, Val di Non, but upon mov- tions and changes that I have seen in my lifetime. I ing to America began working in the coal mines of remember when your nonno first saw a radio, and ran Ohio. My mother, your nonna, was at home caring for all around the house and outside looking for the “perher 8 children. Your nonni (Gabos) raised us children son” who was talking. I also remember when I was four strictly, teaching us to obey and to be sincere. The most or five in the Trentino, seeing a military airplane for the valuable lessons I learned from my parents were how to first time. But for me most notable of the world’s pray and the basics of the Catholic faith.” “When I was advancements was the medical surgery that saved me four our family moved back to Europe for my father’s from requiring a leg amputation.” “Looking back on my health . Due to working in the coal mines, nonno needed life, I am happy with it. I have a wonderful family, beauto purify himself from the harmful things he had been tiful children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I exposed to and resumed his farming in Cles. As I grew feel that life couldn’t be any better, and wouldn’t change up, my family and I enjoyed working on the farm togeth- anything. I only regret that I did not continue with my er and helping out around the house especially with my schooling. I want to tell young people to study, because younger sister Viola . I attended school for 8 years , but no one can take an education away from you. And I wish afterwards did not pursue further education . As a you all believe in yourselves, be proud of your roots, pray teenager, I loved to sing. I would run down the hills near and have faith.”

Written by Lawrence Valentini, Chicago, Illinois. our home singing, so as to hear my echo. Every time someone heard the me singing they knew that “la Pia” was coming.” “ Like every person, I experienced some troubles in my life. Upon our family’s return to Italy, World War I had started in 1914. The war had a huge effect on our family. Though they were American citizens, my eldest brother Joe and father Ferdinando were forced into the Austrian army. I did not see my brother Joe and Silvio and father Ferdinando for four years, until after the war when he turned up in Cles after many adventures through Asia as an American soldier! I remember at one point during the war, how my mother Maria saved the life of a soldier who had been tied to a tree in our yard to be executed. Because of this, I believe everyone should trust God and help their neighbors. My family raised me to be Catholic, and to this day I pray every day and trust in God.” The following is a record of the life story of Eleonor Pia Valentini, as excerpted from her conversations with her son Lawrence and daughter Mary Moresco. Eleonor has been living in Chicago at the Resurrection Retirement Community since 2010.

I

“At age 18, I returned to the states with my family and began living with my parents and Viola in Brooklyn, New York. Deciding not to go back to school, I went with my

6

Back: Left to Right: Laura Fonseca (Daughter), Celeste Hagan, Susan Lewin Seated: Pia Valentini

T

Stufe ... Stoves of the Val di Non

In the sixteenth century, there occurred a emigration of skilled workers of Protestant faith from Faenza who further developed and refined the skill. In 1800 ,many workshops were active and engaged in working the clay to create not only stoves, but also pottery, bricks, tiles and pipes. The eighteenth-century stoves are mostly white with painted decorations with floral motifs in blue or green. There followed other styles with monochromatic colors: white, green, brown, with floral or geometric relief decoration in white. The Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina located in St Michele alla Adige, a town just above Trento, has a collection of fifteen complete tile stoves of different periods and styles.

he Tyrol, now the Trentino, occupies the border between the mid-European area, known for its amazing majolica (maiolica) stoves, and the southern lands, which use none at all and simply utilize the open fire. The tile stove is designed to conserve heat and maximize the radiation in an environment. These stoves are called in Italian stufe a olle (– òle are decorated majolica tiles used to construct the stove.

Sfruz - Val di Non

These stoves began their spread in the Trentino in the 15th and 16th centuries, and employ a complex interior structure of ducts that trap heat inside, thereby using wood is more efficiently. The chimney is completely hidden in the wall next to where the stove is built. The hole is placed at the bottom so that the fumes are forced to a reverse turn. The loading of the stove, for convenience and cleanliness, is always made from a mouth open to a hallway or kitchen. The òle, baked clay, are glazed and have different shapes, often with relief decoration. The shape and the decoration of the panels with which they are constructed make the stove important element of furniture. Some deposits of pure clay for the construction of stoves had been discovered , specifically in the Val di Non, particularly in the area of Sfruz, Sfruz, one of the oldest and highest located localities of the Val di Non valley. The name Sfruz comes from forare (to drill).

Proximate to the village were the areas where there was extracted clay of lake origin of excellent quality. They were called Credai and Sette Larici.

Stufe tiles

The Museum contains the most “aristocratic” models that have a tower-like form.. This extended heightened form enhanced the height of the combustion chamber increasing the radiating surface. This type of stove is very often in the castles of the Val di Non. The museum also displays other examples found in more common settings, designed in the form of a box (a muletto). A wooden frame sometimes constructed around the stove functioned as a warm place to sit. Often on the top lunette is marked the date of construction.

Written by Daniela Finardi, Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina

7

T

Our Music: La Vaca Nonesa

he train from Trento to its final destination: Male` in the next valley, the Val di Sole was a legend, folklore, a mascot…and besides that a real train, un tram. While ridiculed affectionately, it was indeed the Vaca Nonesa that transported the thousands of Nonesi down to Trento where they connected with trains that brought them to the seaports…and finally to our shores. It was kind of …slow…and its horn sounded like a cow…na vaca. The train often came off the tracks, boulders fell on to the rails, so that people had to walk. I remember when I was going to Vermiglio in the Val di Sol in 1948 to visit my Zia Suora, my dad told me…Louis…salta giu…rubaghe en pom e salta su”…Lou…jump off…pick an apple and jump right back on.

Imagine…I acquired these lyrics from Mauro Dalpiaz of the Coro dei Anziani of the Village of Tassullo. Go to their website www.coroparrocchialetassullo.it and you will find this funny song sung by his choir as well as many other songs of theirs and the Trentino repertoire.

Mi son la Vaca Nonesa o`l tram de Val de Non l`e ani che gironzolo e tiro `l me vagon.

I am the Nones cow Or the train of the Val di Non It’s been years that I travel And I pull my cars.

Io sono il tram-“Trento-Malè” Ma il vero nom L`e “Vaca Nonesa” De Val de Non

I am the train: Trento Malè But my true name Is “Nones cow” Of the Val di Non.

I maldicenti stupidi La vaca I me ga dit.

Per questa voze angelica De toro for a drit.

En di `l diseva `n paroco Che I gaga `l pentiment; Che monta su la Nonesa E anca `l testament.

Difati a gran pirecole Cascavavo guasi giù, En di `n tel Nos! Miracolo!

Me sen fermada ampò.

Fastidi po, no tortene Se fosti caminà.

Desun da mi de polvere Sarasti rimpinzà.

E compra pure l`Adige E anche`l corierin Te gai ben temp de lezerli En fin en Camp Trentin.

Ades I me fa corere A scartament ridot.

Atento che a pirecole Narem po pu de trot.

Mi son la “Vaca Nonesa” E vago `n Val de Sol, Se vegno adasi scuseme Se fa quel se pol.

The stupid neersayers Have called me a cow.

For this angelic sound (the train’s horn), I simply go forward

Original Vaca Nonesa-Trento-Malè

One day the pastor had said Those who board the Nonesa Should repent …

And write their will.

In fact, at the great turns I would also hurl down One day into the river Nos. Miracle! I stopped just in time Don`t get annoyed If you have to walk Without me, you would be covered with dust.

Vaca Nonesa in the Val di Non

And buy the Adige and also a comic book. You will have time to read them getting to the outskirts of Trento.

Now they make me run faster at a lower price. Beware with all the turns, we will have to go faster.

I am the “Vaca Nonesa” and go to the Val di Sole. If I go slowly, I do what I can

8

Choir of the parish Church of the Assumption-Tassulo, Val di Non

O

Barca di San Pero: St. Peter’s Boat ur people were deeply religious and they incorporated their religiosity in their daily lives and work. The rhythm of the year followed the rhythm of the liturgy and the church and local celebrations. One such celebration or religious custom was “la barca di San Pero”….St. Peter’s boat. In June, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St Peter and Paul. Our people were neither great theologians nor biblical scholars, but simple, yet religious people who had creative ways of inserting or using ordinary ways to express extraordinary things. Permit me to insert myself into this narrative…

It was June 1948; I was almost 7 years old and was in Cavaione in the Bleggio of the Val delle Giudicarie visiting with my mom and sister my nonni and family. It was June 28th.Nona Teresa and Zia Angelina said…Louis…femte la barca de San Pero? Let’s make St. Peter’s boat. They proceeded “a far filo`”…they did a filo`…they gathered me…at the kitchen table and explained how St Peter and St Paul had missionary journeys to their churches scattered everywhere and traveled by foot and by boat. (They could not have been more biblically literate since they simply recounted the narratives found in the Acts of the Apostles)… Here is what we did..

these mountain peasants that read the signs of times in all that surrounded them.

I need to thank Alberto Folgheraiter, the brilliant and prolific raconteur of the ways and customs of our people. At lunch in a villa overlooking the city of Trento, he reinforced my memory and explained how it was a custom in all the villages of the Trentino. In his book La Terra dei Padri.Storie di gente e di paesi, he presents the custom and the illustrations of this article. This story is true…and in the words of Alberto…it is Storie minime di quei chi non ha storia…Small stories of those who do Nona broke an egg and removed the yolk. She got a large not have history…but, Alberto, they do…in the Filo`. jar and placed a liter of water in it…we placed the egg Thanks white into the bottle and placed it into the water and then on the window sill between “la finestra e I scuri” PS The picture below is the doorway of the kitchen between the window and the shutters. I have a memory where we had prepared the “barca” and the window is of being a bit of the New York skeptic not exactly sure where we placed the jar…it is also the doorway of my what was to happen…I went to bed and got up as if it kitchen of my house where I return twice a year. (I made were Christmas morning and…Yes! There it was…St the bench…)

Peter’s boat…whatever might have been the mystical forces or simply the chemistry and the cold night air of the mountains…but there it was…a form of a ship. St. Peter’s ship. Wow! There followed a profound discussion among I veci…the elders as to what the next couple of months of weather might bring. If the “ship” or its figure was enlarged, the prognostication was that there would be a hot and dry summer. If, instead, the “sails” seemed flat more like a life raft of a shipwreck…the weather that summer would be “shipwrecked”. I learned indeed about St Peter but I think I learned or sensed the wisdom of

9

T

Tyrolean Giants . . .

he Tyrol … now the Trentino … pursuit of Fr. Chino in 1902. gave the world two colossal figures that had enormous impact Segno is one of the lovely villages of the on the world and civilization of Val di Non. It would not have any signifitheir times. Father Martino Martini and cance were it not that it gave birth to someFather Eusebio Chini were both Jesuit misone of tremendous significance…to the sionaries who not only spread Christianity world beyond Segno. Exactly 100 years but made enormous contributions to their after the beginning of the Council of Trent, societies. Father Martini went to China in Eusebio was born in Segno on August 10, 1640, traveled extensively, studied their cul1645, the son of Francesco and Margarita ture, geography and thereby introduced Chini who were inheritors of title of rank China to Europe. He is known as the Father granted by Charles V in 1529. There were of Chinese geography. Father Chini made two significant influences in his early Bolognani’s Biography of Fr. Chini his way to Mexico, Southern California and life…the culture and the religiosity of the Arizona where he became truly a pioneer, a champion of Val di Non and reputation and exploits of the Jesuit misthe native peoples, an historian, an agronomist and a car- sionary born in Trento, Fr. Martino Martini. These two tographer. Whereas Fr Martini interacted with a country acknowledged influences prompted Eusebio to enter the with a developed culture and tradition, Fr Chini came to Jesuit school, a ginnasio, a classical high school in Trento yet to be explored lands with native peoples of a pre- administered by the Jesuits of the Austrian Province.

Columbian culture. Whereas Fr Martini wrote and con- These two acknowledged influences prompted Eusebio tributed directly to European society, its commerce and to enter the Jesuit school, a ginnasio, a classical high its governments becoming well known and well regarded, school in Trento administered by the Jesuits of the Fr. Chini’s tremendous and singular accomplish- Austrian Province. At the age of eighteen, he left for ments…far removed from Europe and their networks Austria and Germany. During a serious illness, he made a fell into oblivion…even and especially in the Trentino. vow to St Francis Xavier that if he recovered, he would Hence, leaving Fr Martino Martini aside for now (the devote his life to the missionary work. Once he recuperFilo` will return to this extraordinary Tyrolean in the ated, he added the name “Francesco” to his own name, future)…we turn to Eusebio Chini of Segno of the Val in honor of his patron saint. In 1665, at the early age of di Non…At the beginning of last century, his work was 20, he became a Jesuit in Landsberg, Germany exactly reevaluated by American historians and now his name three hundred years before being recognized and gloriand legacy is legendary. fied in the Capitol of the USA. Eusebio Chini came to our shores and became the preeminent missionary, pioneer, explorer, historian, writer and geographer. Coming in 1681, he also represents the very first and prototype of our emigrants. His work and achievements affected the native people and the geography of our country so that our nation has declared him the Founder of Arizona. He was an exceptional man who made exceptional contributions to our nation and its peoples…and…for us, Tyrolean Americans, he was truly “un de nossi”…one of our very own. Hence, the Filo` will pursue a series of articles detailing his work and accomplishments. We will draw much of our material from the work of Father Bonifacio Bolognani, who studied his life and work and wrote his biography as well as the historian and scholar, Herbert Eugene Bolton who began his

In Germany, he continued his religious and scientific education for 15 years with distinguished university scholars, in particular with the most distinguished Jesuit professors of science. The Dukes of Bavaria, father and son, asked him to teach in German universities, but Kino was already thinking of China. He would have liked to follow the example of his exemplar, Martino Martini, who had just died in 1611, Jesuit and missionary and fellow Tyrolean…and to follow him to that huge country, China. Europe came to know China thanks to Martini`s cartography and historical publications. But Kino’s superiors had decided differently: he had to leave for Mexico…and indeed sometimes God writes straight with crooked lines…and those crooked lines became the straight lines of greatness in our country…..

10

A

Tortei delle Patate e dei Pomi

tortella is a little cake and tortei is the plural in dialect . . . while the potato was the mainstay of the Tyrol, the apple (pom or pomi in dialect) became the special and revered product of the Val di Non. It bears repeating that the cuisine of the Tyrol is essentially that of the peasants seeking to make the most of whatever they had . . . and hence, creative expressions. Both the tortellas or the tortei are quite typical of the Val di Non. The tortei di patate is similar to potato latkes of Jewish traditions. In that culture, they are made during the celebratory days of Chanukah. In the Trentino, they are served with salted meats . . . cold cuts such as carne salada, coppa and lucanica as well as bortotti . . .

Roman beans.

TORTEL DELLE PATATE . . . Here is the recipe . . . or simply the procedure . . . it involves grating several potatoes . . . a bit of flour (the little bit not defined by anyone that I talked to, but remember that potatoes have their own starches).

Grate the several potatoes with a grater . . . in Italian, the mandolino. Add flour, less than more . . . Add salt . . . make patties and place the patties in hot oil. Remove and place on paper towels. They can be served as a compliment to the secondo piatto (second dish) or along with some good cold cuts.

TORTEI DEI POMI Peel, core, and cut into slice 5 or 6 Delicious apples. Place in a bowl. Combine one egg, 2-3 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 3/4 cup of milk. Combine the wet ingredients with the apples. Prepare oven pan by adding a sufficient amount of cooking oil. I prefer butter. Heat the pan in the oven. Place the apples in the pan and place in the pre-heated oven of 350 degrees. When the surface develops a golden crust, remove form the pan and sprinkle sugar (I add brown sugar and cinnamon).

11

W

Castel Thun

hen one travels up the Valley of the Adige River (Val dell`Adige) to the Val di Non, one passes the promontory, the "Rocchetta", that overlooks the entrance to the Valley as a gate keep. Passing it, one sees to the right the imposing Castel Thun which stands on a wooded hill surrounded by apple orchards, in the Municipality of Ton. In the evening, it is striking illumined with beams of white light and red. It is a monumental building of medieval origin, the seat of the powerful family Thun.

This family has a history of eight centuries that has deeply marked the Valley of Noce, the the TrentinoTyrolean region and of significant European events.

Since the thirteenth century this noble family is at the top of the regional aristocracy, but it is from 1407 that the family takes precedence over other noble dynasties of the Val di Non, who were weakened by the revolt of the people, oppressed by taxes and other abuses, against the Prince Bishop of Trento. At the end of the fifteenth century, the Thun family branches out to various family lines, but always with a common strategy for action. In that period, Sigismondo of Thun exercised a leading role. He was able to increase the influence of the family coordinating the family`s initiatives and rich heritage with shrewdness. He was also the imperial spokesperson imperial, signing in 1563 the proceedings of the Council of Trent on behalf of the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand.

He died in the terrible fire that destroyed the castle and caught him while he was in bed. After his death, there developed deep disagreements between the various branches of the family dividing the once excellent family that had remained until then remained undivided. Yet there was enough unity to enable several members of the family to carry out important diplomatic posts and military. In 1609 the Emperor Ferdinand II of the Thun family obtained the title of Count, with the consolidation of the branch of Bohemia of the Hohenstein. Between 1650 and 1803 the family boasts 12 Prince Bishops. In later centuries the Trentino branch weakened gradually, while the Bohemian branch becomes an important player in European political history.

In the thirteenth century, the Thun family, owners of the Tower of the Visione and of the castle of Ton in Castelletto, bought the castle of Belvesino. This castle was believed to be the original nucleus of the palace which had a double wall, protected by ramparts and towers, with moat and drawbridge built with wisdom

exploiting the natural slope of the hill.

You enter the "Spanish door" (1566), and cross the drawbridge, one will come to a large veranda where they were originally placed the cannons. The main body of the castle, in a typically Gothic style, is quadrangular with four square towers at the corners. On the ground floor, in front of the guard room, there is the chapel of St. George, adorned with a colorful series of fresco decorations in the Nordic style. In the old kitchen, there is furniture and a collection of objects related to domestic needs. The first floor houses the rooms of the nobility, richly furnished, among which is the valuable "Bishop's room" with a coffered ceiling, a monumental door and wood-paneled walls, that was used by the Prince Bishop Alfonso Sigmund Thun. All the rooms on the second and third floor are furnished with period pieces and different backgrounds, collections of glass, ceramics, porcelain, alabaster, silver and bronze. In these environments , there are displayeda rich collection of family paintings created by Nordic, Italian and local painters. In several of the rooms, there are beautiful old tile (olle majolica)stoves produced in Sfruz in Val di Non. In 1992, the Autonomous Province of Trento, bought Castel Thun and proceed its complete restoration. As of April 17, 2010, at the conclusion of the work, the castle was opened to visitors. The castle is the one of the “extensions” of the Castle of Buonconsiglio in Trento that houses monuments and collections of historical artifacts from the Province. Other such “extensions” are the Castel Beseno Besenello and the Castle of Stenico.

Written by Gianantonio Agosti - President -Anastasia Val di Non -- Associazione delle Guide ai Beni Sacri

12

S

The Martyrs of the Val di Non t Vigilius began the evangelization in the IV Century and the transition to Christianity proceeded slowly for centuries. Three foreigner ..i stranieri came to the Val di Non and had lived there for some time. They had come from Capadocia (now Turkey). They were recruited by Vigilio, the Bishop of Trent and sent to evangelize a land that was still pagan. They spoke a strange language (probably the Greek), had a skin color different from that of the inhabitants of the valley. Their names were: Sisinio (the eldest),

for the purpose of preserving their fields form harmful things and to achieve an abundant harvest. These ambarvali rites were conducted three times proceeding reciting “litanies” through the fields leading a sow, a sheep and a bull. These animals were then sacrificed to deities to purify themselves and bless their agriculture. They were martyred by Anauniesi farmers hey were martyred by Anauniesi farmers. The bystanders, not as yet converted, attacked Sisinio with an ax. The mortally wounded missionary was watched all night. The next day the pagans attacked the barracks where there was Martirio and Alessandro. They were massacred burned them at the stake. When Bishop Vigilio learned of the massacre, he immediately went to the Val di Non and retrieved the charred bones of the three Christian martyrs. He brought them to Trento and built outside the city walls a cemetery chapel. In 1212 the original church was enlarged and became what is now the Cathedral, the Duomo of the city of Trento.

“The Martyrdom of Sisinnius,” 1525 Bernardino Luini, c. 1481/2 - 1532

Martirio and Alessandro (they were two brothers).They had been assigned to Vigilio by his brother bishop Saint Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Bishop Virgilius had sent Romans celebrate the Ambarvalia these “strnaieri” as missionaries to the Val di Non where they were able to create a small Christian community At the end of the fiftheenth century, in Sanzeno, there .while they would oppose whatever pagan rituals that was built a large basilica dedicated to the three “foreign” (stranieri) misionaries. The basilica recalls and celebrates were wide spread in this “pagan” territory. the massacre of the three . It a record of early In the evening of May 28, 397, they interupted a pagan Christianization of the population of the valley. ritual disturbing and interrupting their spring rite of Written by Alberto Folgheraiter Ambarvalia. This ancient Roman rite was conducted to honor the Roman God, Saturn, the deity of Agriculture

Basilica of San Zeno

13

The Duomo of Trento

I

San Romedio - The Bear Saint n the spring of 2013 , the bear , missing until the end of the twentieth century , returned to the shrine of St. Romedio, in Val di Non. To the shrine of S. Romedio, there indeed came a brown bear that since 2001 was a "prisoner" in a cage of 400 meters in the National Park of Abruzzo. The community of valley requested the transfer to the area next to the sanctuary to keep alive the tradition linked to a legend. It is said, indeed, that S. Romedio had captured and made a docile bear after the animal had eaten the horse with which he was traveling as he went about to do his begging. Even the figure of the holy hermit is legendary and it was said that he had lived in the time of Bishop Virgilius (patron of Trento) in the fourth century after Christ. In recent decades, the more solid legend suggests the existence of a hermit who lived in the Val di Non around 1000. He was believed to be Tyrolean nobleman who, after visiting the tombs of the popes in Rome, donated the land to the poor. He had retired to live alone in a canyon in Val di Non.

S. Romedio is the name of a hermit, the name of a place, a sanctuary, and a stream (formed by the confluence of the river with a brook, Rio Verdes Ruffré) that over thousands of years of geological time has eroded three kilometers of rock to transform a plateau in a wild gorge. It is one of the oldest places of worship in the Trentino. In fact, it was a sacred place even in pagan times. Traces of smoke, on top of the rock and the oldest part of the shrine, testify sacrifices to the gods. The shrine is built on a spur of rock that rises in the middle of the canyon is one of the most evocative of popular Trentino religiosity. There are five chapels built on each other, all donated by noblemen and simple people who believed they had experience 14

relief from their misfortunes through the intercession of the holy hermit.

The location of the sanctuary is lonely, distant three miles from the nearest town, Sanzeno, where there is another famous shrine dedicated to three foreign missionaries killed in 397 by the pagans of the Val di Non. They are referred to as the “martiri ananuensi” (Val di Non). The thesis that Romedio lived in the eleventh century is fairly recent and matured after extensive research and the use of "carbon-14", the survey performed to determine the dating of finds. He probably lived after the year one thousand, during the pontificate Episcopal Adelperone (1084-1104) when Romedio was already called "holy."

The main festival should fall on 1 October, the anniversary of the death of Romedio, which took place in an unspecified year in the late eleventh century. In the calendar of the thirteenth century, the feast was set on January 11, and in a calendar for the second half of the 15th century, the feast had been moved permanently to 15 January. The communities of the Valle di Non, gathered solemnly at the shrine of S. Romedio twice a year: January 15 and August 15. The second is an ancient pilgrimage of four centuries. It goes back, in fact, to 1632, when there was public homage after the plague of 1632.

Anyway, the main festival is January 15. That day, the sun reappears in the courtyard of the shrine that had remained in the shadows for over a month, and the devotees, in small groups, would reach the Main Chapel to attend the Mass of the friar who served as the guardian of the shrine. At the end of the liturgy, in the restaurant on the ground floor of the shrine complex, a dish of tripe

soup is distributed to the pilgrims. On July 7, 1809, accompanied by six hundred riflemen and a “multitude of people,” Andreas Hofer arrived to the shrine of S. Romedio. He was the Tyrolean innkeeper who thwarted the invasion of Napoleon in the Tyrol and was captured and killed by the French in Mantua on February 20, 1810.

Throughout the Middle Ages, it was customary for pilgrims to come to the sanctuary “anauniese” (Nonish) with a stone on their shoulder. It was an act of penance that earned for the pilgrim forty days of indulgence. The Counts of Thun established a Prince Bishop in 1536 and the Counts proposed to manufacture the Main Chapel.

Understandably, the chapel was built quickly by the many who submitted themselves to the sacred barter-indulgences for work rendered. Along the steep staircase leading to the top of the rock, there is a church dedicated to St. George, built in 1487 by Giorgio di Castel Cles. In front, there is the chapel of the Addolorata, made in the

was discovered that on the west wall were fourlayers of paint. Among these is a Madonna with Child on her knees that vaguely recalls the Byzantine style. It ‘dated around the end of the thirteenth century. Coeval with the Main Chapel in the bell tower (1536), on which was placed a bell ast in 1507. It was replaced with two bronze bells in 1875. The body of the building entrance - a sort of cloister - was built in the 17th century, but most of the buildings connecting the chapels, which were the final layout of the structure, were built in the 18th century.

The works of consolidation and restoration, completed in the summer of 1998, allowed the opening of the balcony on the top of the sanctuary. An breathtaking view at the underlying cliff from a height of over 300 feet (99 meters).

fulfillment of a vow made during the First World War (1915-1918). Halfway through the flight of 115 steps to open the portal of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

It is dedicated to St. Michael and was built in 1514 with money from the Counts Christopher and Bernardino of Thun. Another flight of 30 steps and one breathlessly reaches the Church of S. Romedio, also known as the Main Chapel (1536). Based on the oldest part of the places of worship. The Main Chapel, with paintings from 1612, has some frescoes partly ruined by moisture.

It came to light in 1932, during the restoration, when it Alberto Folgheraiter is the author of many books regarding the Trentino, including his definitive and colorful book I Sentieri dell`Infinito-Storia dei Santuari del Trentino-Alto Adige The Paths of the Infinite-The Story of the Sancutaries of the Trentino Alto-Adige sanctuaries.

15

T

The Apple and the Val di Non

he typical agricultural form in Val di Non is a small land ownership: the territory is mostly mountainous with little arable land and poor soil fertility. Between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the main crops were wheat and rye, followed by maize (corn), wheat or buckwheat “formenton”, and potatoes. The landscape was characterized by a variety of plant species growing wild next to fruit trees such as apricot, walnut, fig, chestnut, cherry, peach, pear, apple. At the edge of the forest there were strawberries, bramble bushes, camomile, mallow, oregano, evening primrose, violet, yarrow and other herbs. They were hedges: field: barberry and privet, blackthorn, hawthorn, elder and pink car.

Until the beginning of '900, there were abundant vineyards, especially in areas of Revò, Tavon, Nanno and Denno. Throughout the nineteenth century until the early twentieth century, the Val di Non pursed the cultivation of cereals, vineyards and the mulberry tree for the production of silk. When devastating diseases struck these plants, there emerged the critical need to change.

Hence, in the 1840s and 1850s, most of these crops were abandoned to make way for pear and apple orchards. The apple tree was introduced in the years around 1800 in the area of Revò, favored by the mild climate and fertile soil.

After 1870, growers succeeded in the production of a specific apple, the Renetta. The Renetta was popular beyond the valley and remained at the top of the production until substituted by the Golden Delicious.

In 1929, the cultivated fields in Val di Non apples were a total of 116 acres, compared with 208 acres vineyards.

Between 1920 and 1940, apple and pear production increased, due to their profitability as crops.

In the thirties, apple and pear production counted for 40% of the province’s area. At that time, however, the practice that still prevailed in the Val di Non was the meadow-orchard. On one side of the field were planted fruit trees to trees that are geographically distant and another part was planted with grass to obtain the fodder intended for animals. After World War II, the cultivation of fruit brought wealth and changed the appearance of the Val di Non. Surely, the improvement of irrigation systems gave a significant contribution, as well as the creation of cooperatives. Between the mid-

16

nineteenth century and the thirties of the twentieth century were built the most important work of collecting and channeling of water, with the aim of bringing irrigation in rural areas. One of the most important aqueducts was built in Val di Tovel , finished in 1852. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there emerged the Cooperative movement begun by Don Guetti, which gave rise to some wineries, the syndication of the fruit growers to Family

Cooperatives food stores and Casse Rurali, cooperative banks.. The first Fruit cooperative was founded in Revò, followed in 1910 and Denno and Nanno in 1912. The cooperatives also began to manage the stores containing fruit, which were born after 1924 and developed particularly in the fifties. In 1989, the Melinda Consortium was founded, in order to certify the origin and the production of apples. Today, the Consortium brings together more than 4,000 fruit growers, who grow to 54% of the apple production..

Written by Dottoressa Giulia Stringari, Associazione Pro Loco Cles e Associazione Pro Cultura Centro Studi Nonesi

O

The Legend of San Romedio n a hill near San Zeno, a village in the Val di Non, you can see the most charming and picturesque sanctuary throughout Europe: the sanctuary of San Romedio. The shrine seems to have arisen, on the tomb of the saint hermit in the sixth or seventh century. The history of the sanctuary shrine has become the most well-known legend of the Trentino.

that the sky was obscured by a cloud of birds. He remembered the providential eagles, raised his hands to heaven, and blessed them. The birds then resumed the flight heading towards the four cardinal points of the area. Bishop Virgilio, warned by an omen, was already waiting for his friend on the outskirts of Trento and with affection hugged him. A few days later, it was time for the two friends to depart and Romedio told Vigilius: "O friend of the Most High, I will never be able to see you with my own eyes land. But when the time comes for my death, the bell of the cathedral of Trent will alone sound.

When that happens, pray for me and rejoice because finally I will return to the house of God. " With these words Romedio left for his hermitage.

Many, many years ago in a town in Austria called Veldidena, now Innsbruck, there was born a boy called Romedio. He was of a noble family. He grew up with two great friends: Abraham and One sad day the bell of the David. The three children cathedral rang and Vigilius were fascinated by the stoknew that it was the time ries about the people of for his great friend to finally Rome and by the reputation depart from this earth. He of an extraordinary man saddled his horse and rode called Jesus who with his as fast as he could to the Val followers brought peace and wonderful tidings every- di Non in order to once where. At 18 years-old, Romedio and the three friends again hear the voice of decided to go to Rome to visit the Pope. Romedio was so Romedio. Within themimpressed in visiting the catacombs that he decided to selves, however, echoed the dedicate his life to poverty and penance. Returning north, words "never again ... never the three pilgrims stopped in Trento where they would again ... never again" meet the Bishop Virgilio who hosted the three travelers. Arriving at the cave he There was born a wonderful friendship that lasted a life- found Abraham and David in tears in front Romedio time. Before leaving from Trento, Romedio promised his already dead lying on a bare rock. The three buried the friend Bishop to go to Val di Non to erect a new church body in the church and went to sleep in the cave. That dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Romedio decided that the night he had a dream Vigilius in magnificent splendor. church was to be erected on a high cliff. While they were He saw the sky path from pink clouds accompanied by carrying with difficulty the first heavy beams, a flock of heavenly music that were arranged in a circle around the eagles approached menacingly towards them. But instead church. They were millions of angels from heaven gathof attacking, the birds grabbed the gigantic beams with ered to consecrate the church of Romedio. All the anitheir beaks and transported them to the predefined loca- mals of the forest, bears, foxes, deer, hares, chamois, tion. Nearby, the three boys also found a cave where they hawks, eagles, birds and love weeping silently witnessed could shelter and rest. From that day, Romedio selected the glorification of that place. that place as his home to pray in solitude choosing a rock Verena De Paoli majored and for a bed and the gifts of the forest for his food. One specialized in the conservation of day he decided to go to Trento to find his friend Bishop the cultural heritage of the Virgilio. David sought the horse to saddle it but with Trentino. She has published eight horror he found that the horse had just been mauled by books on the topic and has recited a huge bear. Romedio was not discouraged and said: "If these stories to her four children. the bear ate my horse, I will saddle the bear" and he did.

After a long way, Romedio arrived in Trento and saw 17

I

Introduction to the Val di Non

n ancient times, the Val di Non was called Anaunia , a name of Celtic origin, likely related to the population of Anauni . Over the centuries, the name was later changed to Val di Non . The Valley is rich in history, from the time of the ancient Romans who had sensed the importance of these territories located next to the Brenner Pass to the Middle Ages, a time when there sprang up numerous castles that punctuate the valley.

picturesque in Europe with its seven churches perched on a spur of rock isolated in the middle of a narrow valley. After centuries, the sanctuary is still revered today as a place of pilgrimage.

The landscape of the Val di Non is replete with many castles and aristocratic palaces, many still inhabited by counts and barons. There are the Castles Belasi, Bragher, Cles, Nanno,Valer and Thun. These castles reflect the history of the Tyrol with the Holy Roman Empire and The Val di Non valley stretches between Mezzocorona Austrian Hungarian Empire. The Castel Thun is the only and the Adige valley, along the Noce River to Lake Santa one open to the public.

Giustina and further along the banks of Rio Novella to San Felice in the province of Bolzano. You can access Festivals and cultural events, gastronomic and sports are the Val di Non valley when coming from the Val di Sole organized throughout the year. In the spring, there are valley (across Passo Tonale-Lombardy), from the Adige organized walks in the flowering orchards . In the sumvalley (Mezzocorona), across Passo Mendola (via mer and autumn, there are markets of local goods and Caldaro, South Tyrol) or across Passo Palade (from products and colorful festivals interspersed with historiMerano). In the north there are the Maddalene mountain cal re-enactments in costume. These festivals recall hisrange, the crown of the valley and its highest mountains, torical episodes, ancient crafts and chores. The valley is often covered by snow. In the south-west there are the an ideal place for nature lovers and hikers with an abunrocky Brenta Dolomites recognized by UNESCO as part dance of walking trails. It is an excellent starting point of the World Heritage. In the east there are Anauni for mountaineers who want to tackle the most challengmountains and in the south the Paganella Massif and the ing climbs. In the winter, there are many sporting events Andalo Saddle. At the center of the valley is the largest such as the "Snowshoeing", running with snowshoes, artificial lake of Santa Giustina, surrounded by green which attracts every year thousands of athletes from hills with castles and numerous canyons formed by around the world. streams and the Brenta Dolomites. To the south, nestled Written by Dottoressa Giulia Stringari, Associazione in the heart of the Adamello-Brenta stands the Lake Pro Loco Cles e Associazione Pro Cultura Centro Tovel in the past also known as Red Lake, domain of the Studi Nonesi brown bear and many other species of wildlife.

The Val di Non is a vast plateau of almost 232 square miles. The area is full of small villages rich in history and culture immersed in the apple orchards that dot the entire landscape. Apple production is the main resource of the valley, specializing in the Golden Delicious, Stark Delicious and the Renetta. The production is supported by a strong network of cooperatives of the Melinda Corporation, the largest producer in all of Italy. The apples have highly prized and distributed throughout Europe.

A special attraction of the Val di Non are the canyons, carved over millennia by the rivers that run through the valley. Among these gorges, caught between the rock walls, there were hermitages and sanctuaries. The Sanctuary of San Romedio is one of the most 18

19

Val di Non

W

Art of the Maddalene Mountains

castle above. It was enlarged in 1335 with the support of the lords of Altaguarda. In its interior, there is a excellent altar with panel doors. It was donated by Bernardino Thun and Bridget of Arsio. Worthy of note are the frescoes in the nave that are inspired by the "Small Passion" of the sixteenth-century German engraver Albrecht Durer and a stone tabernacle of the Gothic style.

hile there might not be art museums and art conservations, the people of the mountain areas and valleys confronted art in their churches, castles, mansions of the nobility and in the way side shrines.

Cis, Livo and Rumo are the small villages that lie at the bottom of the Maddalene in the municipalities of Bresimo. They retain a wealth of ecclesiastical and civil properties, witnesses of a past of faith and history. Over the centuries, various noble dynasties ruled this territory, leaving behind castles and stately homes, still the partly visible signs of their presence. The Christian faith and devotion of the local populations is clearly witnessed by churches, votive chapels and sacred murals scattered all villages, even the smallest shrines along the country roads and mountains.

Above the village of Bresimo at 1280 meters above sea level, there are the ruins of the castle of Altaguarda, the residence of local aristocratic families and for many years, the residence of the members of the powerful family of Thun. It was attacked and burned during the peasant in 1407. It was later rebuilt by Baldassare Thun, who lived there with his wife Philippa of Arco. At the end of 1800 it was purchased by the City of Bresimo and now it is site for visitors who want to enjoy the marvelous view of the valley below.

The population of Baselga di Bresimo is the beautiful church of Santa Maria Assunta, invoked and venerated in the past centuries by the local people during the severe drought that affected the countryside and still known as the "Madonna of the water." One hears of it from 1324 and its history is closely linked with the nobility of the

22

On the hill east of the village of Cish, there is the church of St. George built in its current form in 1594. Inside

there is a Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) of the eighteenth century and a large fresco of the Crucifixion. The main altar is of the seventeenth century, while the two side altars are in neoclassical style.

Of special Interest is the statue of St. George slaying the churches full of frescoes, the churches of St. Martin in dragon, the work of Ferdinand Demetz of the Val Livo and St. Anthony Abbot in Preghena.

Gardena, donated to the church in 1891 by emigrants of Cis employed as miners in Colorado.

In the center of Livio, there stands the palace ALIPRANDINI Laifenthurn, home to ancient noble families of the area. It was recently restored by the Municipality of Livio. There are many historic houses are scattered in each of the villages. Surrounded by green pastures, in the heart of the Maddalene Mountains, there is the territory of the Municipality of Rumo with its seven small villages. In Interiore Courtyard, one finds the artistic jewel of the church of S. Ulrich dating back to 1300. Of great interest and fame is the spectacular fresco of the Last Supper painted on the south wall of the nave by Giovanni Battista Baschenis at the end of the fifteenth century. In 1400, there was the rebuilding of the churches of St. Paul in Marcena, In the municipality of Livo there are four churches, one San Vigilio in Lanza and San for each section of the town. The oldest and most valuLorenzo in Mione. These latter able is the church of the Nativity of Mary in Varollo, the two churches are also decorated parish church of area.. Positioned on a hill straddling the with wooden sculptures and Val di Non and Val di Sole, it was rebuilt in 1537. The frescoes of great interest. faรงade dominates the impressive fresco of St. Scattered throughout the Christopher and on the north side stands a beautiful logMaddalene Mountain areas, one gia called "glesiot."(little church). Inside, there is the finds very many signs of popunoteworthy trio of gilded wooden altars, the work of lar devotion, as evidenced by local carvers of 1600. There is also a pulpit of the 1700 votive chapels and sacred painted wood to simulate marble. The altarpiece of the images painted on the facades Nativity of Mary, in the center of the main altar, is the of older houses. work of the painter of Brescia Carlo Pozzi made in 1669.

Written by Gianantonio Agosti, President -Several frescoes from different eras adorn the walls and Anastasia Val di Non -- Associazione delle Guide ai the patron saint of the church. There are very ancient Beni Sacri 23

G

Family Stories: The Preti’s

etting to know my grandfather, Guido Preti, was no simple matter. It had nothing to do with distance. He lived and is buried in Glenwood Springs, CO, my home for the first 49 years of my life. It had nothing to do with language. He had been living in the United States for 12 years before marrying my grandmother, Marie Wisek, in 1905. By then he had mastered the English language, both written and spoken. Instead, the difficulty was one of chronology. Guido died of black lung disease in 1928, 20 years prior to my birth. Had he lived into his mid-80’s, as was the case with my father, Joseph Pretti, I would have known that he arrived in America at age 16 on July 3, 1893, passing through the great immigration hall at Ellis Island. I would have known that he was bound for Hazelton, PA where his father (and sponsor) was working in coal mines that helped fuel Andrew Carnegie’s steel mills. But more importantly yet, I would have known that he was from Cagno, a small Trentino village in the upper end of the Val di Non. What little my father knew about his father’s Tyrolean history was scant.

Guido’s life in Cagno had been one of poverty, and his emigration was more out of necessity than choice. It was a difficult part of his life that he had left behind and not a time for fond reminiscence. Of this much I was certain: Guido was the third of four brothers to emigrate, that he arrived carrying an Austrian passport, that he was Tyrolean and not Italian, and that his oldest brother, Ben, had returned to the “old country” immediately prior to WWI. My father had no recollection of being told of Ben’s fate once he returned to the Sud Tyrol.

It was not until 1983 that the details of my Trentini ancestry began to fall into place. It was then that I came across Fr. Bonifacio Bolognani’s book, “A Courageous People from the Dolomites.” In reading the book, I learned that Cagno was the “well spring” for virtually every Trentini emigrant carrying the surname of Preti.

The next piece of the puzzle came in 1987 when a first cousin of my father, Leon, made a chance visit to Glenwood Springs. Leon and my father had not seen each other in over 60 years. Their reunion was made possible only by Leon’s penchant for calling on anyone named Pretti during his travels, this time returning to his home in Washington. As Leon later explained. “I struck pay dirt when I found ten Pretti’s listed in the local phone book.”

Left to Right: Benedetto, Augusto & Guido Preti

From Leon, my father and I learned that Uncle Ben (Benedetto) had returned to Cagno, married at the age of 45, and started a family. The youngest child, also named Benedetto, lived in Cagno with his wife and immediate family.

But it was not until 2002 that my wife and I visited Cagno and were able to finally meet the closest of my Trentini relatives. It was uncanny to see that Benedetto so closely resembled my father that they could have been twin brothers. And to see that a few rows of chard, my father’s favorite vegetable, were growing in the family garden. But it was also a bittersweet occasion, made so by my father’s death in 1994. I have no doubt he would have enjoyed this reunion immensely. So while I never had the occasion to spend time with Guido, I have no doubt that his spirit played a large role in gaining a far better understanding and appreciation of my Trentino heritage. And as I fill a bag with the same wild mushrooms Guido picked eighty years prior, I always pay tribute to his ethereal presence. With a full bag of King Boletes (Porcini), I certainly have ample reason to do so.

Dennis Pretti is one of three Trentini descendants who served as Mayor in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He is now retired and resides in Grand Junction, Colorado where he and his wife, Peggy, have resided for the past 15 years. He returns to Glenwood Springs annually to organize and celebrate the Amici d’Italia Picnic in the Park, which dates back to 1995.

Written by Dennis Pretti. Grand Junction, Colorado

24

T

Family Stories: The Leonardi’s

he end of the nineteenth century was a time despite his protestations of being an American citizen. of emigration from the European countries His unit was dispatched to the Balkans. At the time of to the Americas. This was especially evident the armistice in 1918, Grandfather Isadore was in in the rural regions of Eastern Pennsylvania Sarajevo. In the turmoil of that time, there was no transwhere many people moved from their original home- portation to return the troops to their homes, so he lands to seek work in the factories, farms and mines of walked from Sarajevo to Tuenno, surviving by digging the Coal Region. Many Tyrolean families sought work in potatoes from fields along the way. In 1923, the mines of the area. My great-grandfather Francesco Grandparents Bianca and Isadore returned to America.

Dallago, his wife Maria and their daughters Rosina, After marrying, they settled in Minersville, PA, not far Amalia, and Maria left Tuenno, in the Val di Non, from their respective birthplaces. In 1924, they were booked passage to America, and took up residence in the joined by Bianca's younger sister, Ludwina, and Isadore’s town of Atlas, near Mount Carmel, in Northumberland younger brother, Francisco. Sadly, Francisco would die County, PA. In 1894, another daughter, my grandmoth- only one week after taking a job at the nearby Lytle er Bianca, was born, followed by a fourth daughter Colliery. In 1926, Grandmother Bianca gave birth to Ludwina, in 1896. At nearly the same time, in New their only child, my mother, Dora. Grandfather Isadore Boston, a town near Mahanoy City, in Schuylkill County, worked as a carpenter, but the effects of the great depresPA, my other great-grandfather, Ferdinand Leonardi, his sion were being felt throughout the nation. They then wife Assunta, and their sons Frederick and David took opened a corner grocery store to supplement their up residence. They had also emigrated from Tuenno. income when carpentry work would be difficult to come Father and sons were soon working in the local collieries. by. Over the years, the store prospered and they made a In 1891, my grandfather, Isadore, was born, followed by successful life for themselves. They returned to visit their a daughter, Albina, in 1894, and another son, Francisco families in Tuenno for a few months in 1956. They expein 1896. In 1900, disaster struck the colliery at Buck rienced a lifetime which saw the horse as a common Mountain, in the form of a methane gas explosion. Ten means of transportation in their youth and space flight miners died, among them my great-grandfather and man visiting the moon in their later years.

Ferdinand and his son, David. Shortly thereafter, great- Grandparents Isadore and Bianca went to God in 1972 grandmother Assunta returned to Tuenno with my and 1978. They left behind their legacy of hard work, grandfather Isadore and his brother Frank. Their broth- determination, resiliency in the face of adversity, and an er, Frederick, remained behind in America. At roughly unflagging belief in God, surely a testament to those who the same time, in Atlas, PA, my Dallago grandparents follow in their footsteps. elected to return to Tuenno with their family . Both fam- Written by Grandson, David Dando, Galloway, New ilies grew through the early part of the twentieth centu- Jersey ry, leading happy lives amid the familiar surroundings of the beautiful Val di Non. This pleasant environment underwent a seismic shift with the advent of World War I. Val di Non was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1915, Italy entered the war on the side of the allies, opposing the Empire. This posed considerable anxiety to the Dallago family, since my grandmother Bianca was serving as governess to children of a wealthy family in Venice. The Venetian family treated her very well, but communications across the border to Tuenno were not possible because of the war. Grandmother Bianca's family had no idea of her whereabouts or her conditions. Eventually, Bianca was able to return to Tuenno by traveling first to Switzerland and then to the Val di Non to reunite with her family. At the same time, Grandfather Isadore was inducted into the Austrian army Bianca & Isadore Leonardi 25

D

Nos Dialet . . . Our Dialect #5

in! Din! Dialect school is in session…I had a dialect experience. In attempting to translate and comment on the song detailed in this issue, La Vaca Nonesa, I experienced great difficulty. I consulted with 5 valleys and 12 contacts in the Province…to finally get it almost rendered for the Filo`. Our dialect is not Italian. It has always been la nossa cosa (not to be confused with the Cosa Nostra”. It has its own “rules” or styles and gets shaped from one valley to the next…the “mountain effect”. In addition, we have several other languages within the Province..Ladin as well as German with a numerous minority that speak it. Hence, how relevant is it to try to teach it? Don`t know…but it represents one of our heirlooms of our culture, the sound of our people and our immigrant relatives so the effort is to bring to our families some elements of its words, “grammar and syntax” and even of its sounds to hear these echoes of our people…

Hence, here indeed is something again about our unique use of K, a verb and some vocabulary. At the same time, do consider going to the web site of the Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina (The Museum of the Ways and Customs of the Trentino People) to hear film clips of people in the Province speaking the dialect…Here is their website http://www.museosanmichele.it/alfabeto-delle-cose/ The letter K…they have the sound but not the actual letter. There is an inconsistency in using a “hard C” like casa and a “soft C” as in celet…so they add an H or presume an H with further inconsistency…so we have Bosch for bosco (woods). Poch or Poc for Poco (little) or Toch or Toc (a piece) or Sgnech or Sgnec (soft) or Bech or Bec (beak) or Sech or Sec (dry). Not easy to understand…nor to explain! Agreed!!!

Here are some dialectical expressions using the word GHO . . . I have . . .and SON . . . I am Ghò frét Ghò fam Ghò calt Ghò sòn Ghò pòra Ghò vòia Gho sé

Ho freddo Ho fame Ho caldo Ho sonno Ho paura Desidero Ho sete

I am cold I am hungry I am hot I am sleepy I am scared I desire or desire I am thirsty

Mi ero Ti te eri Lu l’era Noi erem Voi ere Lori I era

Io ero Tu eri Egli era Noi eravamo Voi eravate Essi erano

I was You were He was We were You were They were

Stua Giaz Ancò Angiol Istruir Orbo Rason Scampar Scuzar Slargar Stomech

Stuffa Ghiaccio Oggi Angelo Insegnare Cierco Ragione Fuggire Perdonare Allargare Stomaco

Stove Ice Today Angel Teach Blind Reason Flee Forgive Enlarge Stomach

Son strach Son contènt Son vèc Son gióven Son mericàn Son porét Son ciapà

Here is the past tense of the verb to be . . .

Some vocabulary . . .

26

Sono stanco Sono contento Sono vecchio Sono giovane Sono americano Sono povero Sono occupato

I am tired I am happy I am old I am young I am American I am poor I am busy

M

Family Stories: The Anselmi’s

y father, Felice Anselmi, was born 1891 in the lovely village of Arsio-Brez in the Val di Non, in what was then the Austrian Empire in the Palazzo di Arsio-Brez and hence, had probably some noble lineage. For sure, he was always special to me. Like so many Nonesi, he immigrated along with his special friends from his village, the brothers Joe and Mike Rauzi to Rock Springs, Wyoming in 1910 to work There he found some of his brothers’ family and fellow paesani that had preceded him. Like so many of the Tyrolean immigrants, my father boarded for a time at the home of Peter and Angela Menghini on Rugby Ave. He sent money to his mother regularly. His fellow paesani found him work with an area employer, the Union Pacific Coal Company who was notorious for their dangerous mines and working conditions. In fact, my father started to write in a ledger in 1912 about the many problems facing the coal miners. They received very low wages, suffered unsafe working conditions, and had no health benefits. He recalled in his ledger that the Tyrolean miners were sent into depths of the mine shafts for coal exposing them to the danger of methane gas explosions. He witnessed his friend John Corazza get killed, trying to stop a runaway coal car with a spike bar into the tracks, but the car came faster and he was killed.

to the Val di Non, my father was to be given a special gift for my mother, Maria, from Angela Marchetti Menghini, a sister to my nonna, my mother Maria’s mother. She asked if Felice would take a gift of a gold locket on a chain to me in the USA, her niece Maria in. He did…and I wear this locket today. Yet more precious and special are the memories of our family life, our traditional Tyrolean values and the wonderful memories of our origins.

My mother learned to speak English and when my father died at the age of 59, she became the farmer amazing all the neighborhood farmers. She managed to buy and sell cattle at the local auction.

Felix Anselmi was a Sachem of the order of the Redmen Organization formed to help families in need. My father was instrumental in forming the Friendly Club in 1937.

In 1987, the children of the Tyroleans had a golden anniversary, honoring our heritage. Leno Anselmi with our Tyrolean paesani later formed the Trentini Italians of Utah. He was the founder and First President. I ,Mary Anselmi Ravarino, graduated from the University of Utah. I received the American Association of University’s Distinguished Women award in 2010. Leno Anselmi graduated from Utah State University with honIn 1920, he returned to Arsio-Brez to see his sick moth- ors and a scholarship to Cornell. I am very proud of my er. He met for the first time Maria Cologna, my mother, family and my Tyrolean Heritage. from Castelfondo of the Val di Non. They fell in love and were married in the church St. Nicolo, Castelfondo, Written by Mary Anselmi Ravarino Austria in1921. They returned to the USA to Rock Springs, Wyoming. After some time, my father went to work in the coal mines in Reliance, Wyoming.

For years after my father sought to inspire his fellow workers to strive to become part of a union to obtain proper working conditions and health care for his fellow miners. Having witnessed the tragic death of his friend, John Corazza, my father and mother decided to leave Reliance and took a trip through California, to Idaho and Utah only to settle in Ogden Utah with paesani. In 1931, my father with his family and Zio Fortunato Cologna bought a farm in Weber County, Ogden, Utah with paesani.Leno Anselmi was born in 1922 and I, Mary Anselmi in 1924. We enjoyed a very loving comfortable home. My mother was a very special person to us as well as to all her friends. She left a very special legacy. We were inspired to read and to pursue education. Returning 27

Felice Anselmi

Maria Cologna Anselmi

H

The Great Emigration

ow many Trentini left for the United States of America between 1870, when there began the Great Migration, and 1970, when for the first time the number of those returning home (a small number) was greater than the number of those leaving? From the statistics compiled in 1888 by Lorenzo Guetti, the priest and founder of the Trentino Cooperative movements, we can deduce that between 1870 and 1888 about 4,000 “workers” went to the USA, of a total 25,000 emigrants who left for the “Americas”. It is yet more difficult to determine how many followed them until the outbreak of the First World War, a period when the great and invincible North American country proved a magnet for European immigrants. While there are no official statistics, we can rely on three annual surveys proposed by the European Mediation of Labor Chamber of Commerce of Rovereto. We can conclude that in the fifteen years that preceded the war the force of attraction of the United States on the masses migrants had become overwhelming, so much so that in some years, 70-90% of the workers who came to America had chosen the United States and only the remainder headed to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. In absolute terms, the Office's investigations can make us think of an annual flow of 2,000-3,000 Trentini to the States. From 1890 to 1914, he could then calculate 50,000-60,000 workers started from the Dolomites to New York, to which are added the 4,000 earlier. According to our studies, another 6000-8000 Trentini would follow them in the period between 1919 and 1939 . After the end of the Second World War in Trentino the emigration to the U.S. becomes reduced to several hundred. In short, the United States of America opened its doors to approximately 60,000-70,000 workers parties from the Italian Tyrol and, after 1918, from Trentino.

Here is indeed a major finding: the United States of America was the country that welcomed and accepted the greatest number immigrants from the Trentino. More than double the number of immigrants, for example, found hospitality in the USA than in Brazil or Argentina, as well as the many more than who entered in the same period of time in France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, the most common destinations for emigrants from Trentino in Europe. In contrast, more workers from the Dolomites gravitated and found work in the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Accordingly

there are two considerations. Firstly, this movement toward these areas was an “internal immigration” until 1918 since the Trentino was part of that empire.

Nonetheless, they moved to a region with a different language, costumes and economy. This was also for those who went to live in Vorarlberg or in Bosnia. This circumstance was a movement representing a temporary or seasonal migration just for one or few seasons with an eventual return home. Even among the Trentini that entered the United States, many then returned home. It is difficult and frustrating to define how many did this turn around. We merely have indirect information that suggest that 50% went and returned.

There were years, possibly decades, especially between 1890 and 1914, where many males of the Italian mountains would leave. It had become almost a custom, a difficult and painful habit, however, to go to the United States whenever the household could not sustain itself and whenever it was difficult to find work. They were the famous “birds of passage”. They were the immigrants that the American ruling classes did not like too much since they worked a while and then took away a small amount of capital from the country instead of spending it on the spot, settling there and forming the manpower available to the local capitalism needed to maintain a low level of wages. They instead lingered a handful of months or a few years, sacrificing and saving and eventually brought home the hoard of dollars that, given the high exchange rate, was used to replace the house, to buy a pasture, a field, a set of woods. It was also, and especially with these dollars, these “rimesse”…remittances that the Trentino economy managed to recover the great crisis that had prostrated it in 1870-1890.

Enrico Gentilini, a Trentino pharmacist who lived in Trinidad, Colorado and for a time worked for the newspaper “L'Unione of Pueblo traveled around the States and he estimated in 1914 that there were about 40,000 Trentini, including children born there. Silvio Bernardi had sent a report to the Secretary of Trentino emigration that there were 40,000 Trentini in the USA that included 567 “colonies” in the USA in 35 states. In 1900, the Trentino had 360,000 inhabitants while tens of thousands of people had emigrated to Brazil, Argentina and other European countries.

28

From which Valleys did the emigrants come from and where did they settle? According to the statistics compiled by Don Guetti, from the very beginning, the greatest amount migrants came from the Val di Non followed by those from the Val Rendena. Among those of the Val Rendena were the “moleti” the knife grinders who were able to make their way with their craft in the large cities like New York and Chicago. With their experience of the Cooperative Movement of Don Guetti, they formed efficient labor guilds, they achieved a good standard of living and often a life of ease, creating prosperous business enterprises. So, too, migrants came from the Giudicarie Valleys, the Val di Chiese, Bleggio, Banale e Lomaso, Val di Cembra e the Val di Pine`. Other valleys had migrations from time to time: the Valsugana, Basso Sarca and the Val di Ledro.

An enormous question: in those decades of enormous economic and social crisis, how did these migrants find the money to cross the ocean to get to the USA? Hardly a silly question: it was very difficult to put together the few dollars to buy passage on some ship to the USA. In addition, the U.S. government also enacted laws that sought to prevent the entry into the country of poor and needy people that would weigh on state coffers or private charity. This became the way: who had already emigrated sent to friends and relatives the money for the trip. They returned the funds a little at a time as they found work. Indeed, those relatives and those friends were often the ones who found employment for the arriving new emigrants. There developed a system of “bordo” or boarding houses wherein the new comer who stay in a house, would be served meals, have their laundry done in exchange for an agreed weekly or monthly compensation. Even in this way, here and there in the United States, there developed “ valley islands” since the Nonesi would recall Nonesi and those of the Bleggio those of their area and villages.

They would continue to head to the United States in great numbers. The emigrants from Trentino continued to leave their land with small numbers even in the period between the two World Wars up to 1960-1970. But the U.S. government virtually prevented the flow to continue. In the 1920`s a number of laws were passed to restrict the entry of immigrants in the United States, whose capitalist system was now focusing on the development of the internal market, and consequently on a policy of high wages, thus requiring less and less of a massive immigration as had been the case for the

29

previous decades. At the same time, to prevent the arrival of an illiterate labor force with no financial resources, Americans approved of some laws creating quotas which drastically limited into the country the entry of Latin, Slav, Greek, Arab emigrants as well as other nationalities and ethnic groups. Note that even among Italians, especially those in the south, illiteracy was very high and that both the north and the south of the country , workers departed who did not have even a small amount of money. As a result, the Anglo-Saxons, the Germans, Scandinavians were favored and preferred.

The Trentino region, we know, had entered World War I as Austrian but had exited Italian. So even for her children that Percentage Bill of 1921 had an impact since it imposed a limit and a quota of only 42,000 to the Italian immigrants who had entered in the previous decades in the hundreds of thousands per year in the country. The Secretariat of Emigration for the Tridentine Veneto wrote sadly regarding the Trentino emigrants: “…there exists a certain mistrust of Italy in them (the Trentino immigrants) since as the once Austrian subjects in America, they were most respected and well regarded of the Italians”. Rightly or wrongly, however, almost always the result of prejudice, this was another reality with which the Trentino emigrants had to deal with from 1918 and certainly not just those bound for the United States of America. Even so, now that they could no longer boast an Austrian passport, they could no longer differentiate themselves from emigrants who came from the rest of Italy. Hence, they named and baptized their social groups “Tyrolean Clubs” after 1918 since in the decades before, they had identified themselves as Tirolesi and dedicated to the figures of the Emperor Francis Joseph and Andreas Hofer. These Clubs or Circles were used to gather the people around the traditional values they had brought from their valleys, in a country that was rushing towards modernity, quickly erasing their roots. The newspaper “L'Emigrante” of March 1921 hinted that there were…” sixty Trentino associations established in the various centers of the Confederation North Americana”.

Renzo Grosselli is a noted journalist of L’Adige the main newspaper of the Trentino. He has researched the history of emigration from the Trentino and has published the book L’Emigrazione dal Trentino dall Medioevo all Prima Guerra Mondiale (Trentino Emigration from the Middle Ages to the First World War).

T

Mountains of the Val di Non

Palade. His castle was probably placed there to control its territories and from whoever might decide to climb to the summit of the Monte Luco. Yet another three centuries passed before there was word of another climber in the Maddalene. Shortly after the mid-nineteenth century, Bohemian Lieutenant Julius Payer explored the bases of the Maddalene, explorations that were not as The Maddalene Mountains are one of the least known important as those in the Ortles-Cevedale and Adamelloand wildest mountain ranges in Trentino. Geographically Preanella. Payer first created a map that represented quite they belong to the Ortler-Cevedale group of mountains closely these mountains. which are situated between the Trentino and Alto Adige/SĂźdtirol. To the west they are bordered the On Maddalene there are only two shelters: Refuge Stella Cevedale group; to the north, the Val d'Ultimo, on the Alpina at the Lago Corvo (2425 m), built in 1952 by east by the Passo delle Palade and in the south by the Val Matthias Trafojer. One reaches the shelter in about 3 di Non. There are four valleys that surround the group: hours walking from Piazzola or Saint Gertrude in Val Val di Rabbi, Val d'Ultimo, the Val di Non and Val di Sole d'Ultimo . The other shelter is called Maddalene Refuge The Maddalene are sometimes treated as the mountains (1925 meters) opened recently at the center of the of the Val di Non, even though they are part of the Val mountain range and can be reached by Lanza or Proves di Sole. These mountains abound with pastures, waters in 2 hours. The Maddalene are an ideal place for hiking and pastures. The name of these mountains comes from and long treks, in a natural environment that has the habit of not cutting the hay before of 22 July, the day remained largely intact. The shelters are few, but instead there are some shelders and many shepherd lodges of St. Mary Magdalene. (about 80). The Maddalene border on the Stelvio The first explorers of the Maddalene were the shepherds National Park, and share the many animals of this noted who probably climbed a few peaks, but there is no trace park: deer, roe deer and chamois, brown bear, marmots of their names. These shepherds went to the mountains and many rodents, foxes, hares, grouse, eagles etc.. In to work, hard work, and simply had no free time in sport- addition to hiking is also very popular ski touring and ing activities, such as mountaineering. The first mention hiking with snowshoes. of a climb up these mountains is also one of the first ones in the region, dating back to August 24, 1552, when The Maddalene are characterized by wide meadows and Jakob von zu Boymont . Katharina Bosch and Queen pastures, forests, lakes and streams, but also from rock Katharina von Brandis went up on Mountain Luco, also structures, that do reach the heights of the Dolomite called Laugenspitze (2434 m), a scenic mountain over- groups. The highest peak is the Punta di Quaira or looking the Passo delle Palade. Boymont was a Baron, Karspitze (2752 m), followed by the Turatti peak or born in Castel Ivano, in Valsugana in 1527. He had a cas- Nebel Spitze (2701 m).

Written by Ricardo di Carli tle (Castel Bavaro) in Nalles, just below the Passo delle he Val di Non are blessed with two marvelous sets of mountains. In the north, there are the Maddalene Mountains and they straddle the Brenta Dolomities on west side of the valley.

See the article about the Brenta Dolomites in the Winter 2013 edition of the Filò.

30

31

TURNING IDEAS INTO REAL LIFE

A story of excellence: research and technological transfer in the University of Trento

The technological transfer in Trento starts thanks to the continuous process of analysis, monitoring and evaluation of technologies developed in the research centres of the University, through licence agreements and patents shared with companies; national and European research projects; the participation in medium and large sized companies active in cutting edge technological fields.

Since its foundation the University of Trento has always praised the human factor, when connecting ideas, research and products, promoting the research and enterprise culture among teaching staff, researchers, Ph.Ds and students. The technological transfer is implemented through the creation of specific spin-off and start-up companies.

These businesses are the implementation of innovative technologies created in the University, the concrete result of the ability to gather a team of people turning technologies into products or services.

The activity sectors of the spin-off and start-up companies created by the University of Trento regard many and different industrial and technological areas. For example, technological transfer activities regard the production and trading of innovative sensors for the measuring of radon gas, the production of

state-of-the-art software for calculus in wooden buildings, hydraulic modelling and the management of the integrated cycle of water and water infrastructures, the integrated systems for the management of business data. Other technological transfer activities were developed in the field of management of hydrogeological problems, biomedical equipment and regenerative medicine, the study of new materials obtained through the dust technologies, the analysis of the flexibility and working capacity of vehicles and storage systems and related robotic systems, as well as the technical and IT support for the drainage of polluted sites and for the human-machine communication, through eye communication systems.

The variety of projects and their increasing cross-discipline feature, also in emerging areas requiring integrated skills, such as projects of social innovation highlights the capacity of the University of Trento in integrating research into the business world. Research itself is considered and designed since the very start paying particular attention to the evolution of the society: this is a great opportunity for the students of the University of Trento, because this approach allows them to be in touch with the productive market and the labour market.

The University of Trento also created the magazine “Knowtransfer�, entirely devoted to the topic of technological transfer, which can be browsed online at: http://knowtransfer.unitn.it The magazine is a tool to develop new ideas, achieve increasingly significant results, share and improve the excellence produced in the University.

knowtransfer.unitn.it 32

ART>UNITN | IMG>Fototonina.com

The University of Trento is young, dynamic and internationaloriented. Excellent courses, some of which taught in English, are accompanied by the constant connection between ideas and real life, between research and businesses.

T

Nones . . . the Language

he Nones, or Anauni, are one of the oldest people in Trentino Alto Adige, and one of the oldest in the Alps. They originate from Rhaetian tribes, a people of Mesopotamian origin who over the centuries marched up the Danube from the Black Sea arriving and settling to the central Alps and their southern slopes. They were a very advanced people, had their own alphabet and its own system of writing. They were experts in metalwork and agriculture. Roman historians relate they had no king but self managed and governed themselves. In contrast to the Germans, they lived in many towns and not in scattered farmsteads. 500 years before Christ, the Anauni were settled in the Valley, The name of the valley, its people and the river (the Nos) that runs through it are of Rhaetian as well as semetic origin. The Nones peacefully accepted Roman rule, while the Rhaetian tribes to the north had to be subdued by force. The Nones were integrated into the Roman civilization, so that in 46 AD, the Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius issued an edict granting them the privilege of Roman citizenship. In the very same edict the emperor also claims to be particularly pleased to confer citizenship, since many of the Nones were found in his personal guard while others were highranking officers in the Roman legions, and others served as magistrates administering justice in the very city of Rome. There developed a combining of the Roman language with Rhaetian. This combination still remains as the source of the Nones language, a form of Rhaetian Ladin language This very ladin language is in evidence is several other valleys in the Trentino Alto Adige and as a consequence establishes the Nones as one of the Province`s linguistic minorities.

years later. While the origin of the minority of the Nonesi dates back to 2000 years ago, while the settlement of the Ladin Dolomites dates back a thousand years later.

The identity of these latter people who settled in those areas is not well defined.. Ladin is officially recognized in the Trentino and South Tyrol by provincial and national law. Italy signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1991, but has not ratified it so far.

The charter calls for minority rights to be respected and minority languages, to which Ladin belongs, to be appropriately protected and promoted. Starting in the 1990s, the Italian parliament and provincial assembly have passed laws and regulations protecting the Ladin language and culture. A cultural institute was founded to safeguard and educate in the language and culture.

School curricula were adapted in order to teach in Ladin, and street signs are being changed to bilingual.

There is a great deal of evidence regarding the antiquity and uniqueness of the “nones language. The noted linguist , William Bertagnolli, has compiled written a collection in 3 volumes of nones poetry from the 1850 to 1910. Another eminent nones linguist, Prof. Enrico Lent, drafted in 1964, the vocabulary of the language nònesa. In 2005, yet another nones linguist, Ilaria Debiasi published the grammar of the language nonesa. Both Italian and non-Italian linguists have written extensively regarding the nones. Nones poetry continues to flourish today. The status of the ladino nones minority has been affirmed and recognized by the schools who teach the language, its history and its culture. Such developments reinforced the identity and validity of the Nones Ladino minority.

Even with the fall of the Roman Empire, and with the Written by Doctor Sergio de Carneri arrival of the barbarians, the Nones did not lose their cultural and linguistic identity. Indeed, during the Middle Ages, the people of the valley rose up repeatedly preserving and expanding the privileges of the Valley. When the Trentino Alto Adige was granted its autonomy by Italy, the Nones claimed recognition of their status as a minority language. In the 2011 census, in a secret and direct ballot, 10,000 declared themselves “ladini” claiming the same rights enjoyed by Ladin of the Valley of Badia and the Val Gardena in South Tyrol and the Ladin Val di Fassa in the Trentino. While the origin of the minority of the Nonesi dates back to 2000 years ago, the settlement of the Ladin Dolomites dates back a thousand Tavola Clesiana 33

The Wisdom Stories: I Proverbi

The dialect is in red; the Italian in blue and the English is in black.

Chi e` stret di man, l`è stret di cor. Chi è stretto di mano, è stretto di cuore. He who is tight with his hand is tight with his heart.

A chi che no ghe pias il pan, Dio che toga anca la polenta. Chi non le piace il pane, che Dio prenda anche la polenta. He does not appreciate bread, may God take his polenta as well.

The next three proverbs are those of the farmers, the contadini, of the Val di Non. Col tem e la paia s`è madura achja I nespoli. Con il passare del tempo e con la pazienza si maturano le cose. With the passage of time and with patience, all things mature.

Loda l`ert e stai al plan e da l`aca stai lontan. Abbi reispetto del terreno ripito ma sapendo che è faticoso preferisce pianura e stai lontano dall`acqua, che potrebbe arrecare danni. Beware of steep ground and choose the level ground while avoiding the water.

The Origins of Trentino Names

Seo piou da l`Ascension fen patate e formenton. Se piove il giorno dell`Ascensione, faremo patate e formenton. If it rains on the day of the Ascension, we will make potatoes and buckwheat.

Agosti – A nickname (sopranome) from Roman Imperial times – Augustus as well as dedicated to good wishes or favored by auspici. Other feel that it derives from Agostino. Found in the Valleys of Fiemme and Fassa.

Carneri – Da Carner..the ample sack containing provisions carried by hunters or for wanderers needing food.The insurrection of 1525 of the farmers threatening the city of Trent was called Guerra dei Carneri. Areas: Val di Non and Valsugana. 1537, Giovanni Leone de carneriis. Ballino; 1698, Geronimo Carneri-Tione Cristoforetti – Derived from the name Cristoforo, “one who carries Christ”. Found in different parts of the Trentino. Christoforis, 1282; 1600 Antoni de Christoforis; Variations: Cristofaletti, Cristofari,Cristofaro, Cristofolini,Cristoforini

Dolzan – Derived from the personal name…Dolce, or Dolciano or Dolzano as well as a form of greeting meaning “sweet and affectionate”. At St Vito of Pergine, there is a household Dolzer, founded by the Mocheni, the German speaking population of the Valsugana. Found in the Val di Non. Variations: Dolzani.

Filippi – Derived from the personal name Filippo (Philip), with the meaning of a person “who loves horses, friend of animals. Found in various parts of the Trentino: 1506 Simone Filippini; 1612 Frederico Filippi-Rovereto; 1617 Francesco Filippi-Rovereto; 1798, Domenico Filippi-Albiano; 1802, Andrea Filippi-Livo. Variations: Filippetti,Filippo, Filippin, Filippini, Filippino, Filippone, Filippozzi, Filipputu, Filipputti Leonardi –from the name Leonardo meaning “hard and valorous as a lion” also from the name Bernardo-“coragious bear”. There are places called S. Leonardo with the knickname Nardi. 1528, Pietro Leonardi-Adeno;1607, Mario Antonio Nardi-Baselga di Vezzano; 1677, Paolo Nardino-Trent; 1729, Stefano Nardi-Romagnano; 1795, Giacomo Aloisio Leonardi-Davone; 1743, Domenico Leonardelli – Nomi.Deleonardo, Delleonardi,Delunardo, DeNardi, Denart, Leonardelli, Leonardo, Linardi, Lunardelli, Lunardi, Lunardon, Lunardoni

Stringari – Derived from the function of a rope maker or the producer of laces. 1509, the great German stringarius in Trento; 16th century, Bartholomew of Lorenzo Bevilacqua called “stringar” of Male`; 1559, Tonala del Stringar and Cristofel stringar in Trento. Variations: Stringhini, Stringini 34

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our Partners are . . .

Alberto Folgheraiter- Author, journalist and specialist in Trentino culture Christian Brunelli. Teacher & Technical Consultant Giorgio Crosina - Phoenix Bancaria Informatica Ivo Povinelli, Director - Federazione Trentina della Pro Loco e loro Consorzi Jim Caola Genealogist, nutritional counselor, macrobiotic chef, Daniela Finardi, Communications Department, .Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina Manuele Margini - Phoenix Bancaria Informatica Ricardo di Carli - Biblioteca della Montagna-SAT Modesto Povinelli-Director of Pro Loco-Carisolo Renzo Grosselli - L`Adige, Journalist, Author Trentino Sviluppo SpA -- Department for Tourism and Promotion - http://www.visittrentino.it Sara Covi - Azienda per il Turismo, Val di Non. Paola Fusi Head of Communications – University of Trento Verena Di Paoli - Writer, Researcher, Scholar

Contributors

Don Marcello Farina-Balbido, Bleggio Superiore, Italy Mary Anselmi Ravarino, Salt Lake City, Utah Dennis Pretti, Grand Junction, Colorado David Dando, Galloway, New Jersey Lawrence Valentini, Chicago, Illinois Giulia Stringari, Associazione Pro Loc Cles e Associazione Pro Cultura Centro Studi Nonesi Gianantonio Agosti, President of Anastasia Val di Non -- Associzaione delle Guide ai Beni Sacri Sergio De Carneri -- Val di Non Elionora Dolzoni, Museo degli Usei e Costumi della Gente Trentina

Photo Credits

Front Cover -- Elena Marini Silvestri Page 7, Museo degli Usei e Costumi della Gente Trentina Pages 9, Gianna Zotta Pages 12, Azienda per il Turismo, Val Di Non Pages 14-15, Elena Marina Silvestri Page 16, Azienda per il Turismo, Val di Non; David Eccher Page 17, Gianna Zotta Pages 18-19, Azienda per il Turismo, Val di Non. Pio Geminiani, Giovanni Cavulli, Flavio Faganello, Gianni Zotta, Roberto Cavulli, Andrea Parolin Pages 20-21, Trentino Sviluppo SpA - Department for Tourism and Promotion Pages 22-23, Mirco Benedetto Pages 30-31 - Azienda per il Turismo, Val di Non; Enzo Gardumi

Help us find Tyrolean Americans . . .

We wish to reach as many Tyrolean Americans as possible so that we can bring them information and resources regarding their roots and ancestry. Please provide us names of friends, relatives, and family so that we can send them the Filò on a regular basis. One can register on-line, by letter, e-mail or fax. See contact information on page 3 Name ____________________________________________________________________________ Street Address _____________________________________________________________________ City, State & Zip ___________________________________________________________________ Email address _____________________@_________________ Trentino Valley of Origin__________________________________ Send this to: Filò Magazine, PO Box 90, Crompond, NY 10517 or fax it to 914-734-9644 For further information, call 914-402-5248 35

Filo Magazine PO Box 90 Crompond, NY 10517

Pre-Sort Standard US Postage PAID Permit # 5432 White Plains, NY