Page 22 - A Life - my Live - my path

Herding goats and sheep in Italy

On the ground floor, there was a room called a "cantina"
(cellar) and, next to it, a stable with a manger and straw
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where the farm boy slept. He must have been 15 years old.
My grandparents had taken him in because his large family
couldn't afford to bring him up and feed him every day. The
upstairs was fitted out with a kitchen and a 2nd room with a
balcony that allowed you to enjoy the magnificent scenery
already outlined.
Eight people lived there: my grandparents and my
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father in the "cantina", one of my uncles with his wife
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and their two children upstairs and the farm boy in the
stable.
The amenities were very basic, and the chores were hard:
chopping wood for the fireplace, fetching water from the

well or fountain, looking after the animals, tending the
vegetable garden. My mother oversaw the water supply with
this copper container called a "conca abruzzese", shaped like
a diabolo, which she carried on her head.
Natural needs were still managed in the old-fashioned
way. The outdoors, stables and hygienic buckets were part of
everyday life.

The square was the end of the dirt and gravel road. Major
works were underway to make it more roadworthy for the
coach and the first cars that began to drive through the

8 The farm boy’s name was Antonio
9 MONACO Nicola et NINNI Angela
10 MONACO Matteo
11 FUSCO Virgilia
12 MONACO Vanda et MONACO Nicola
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