Page 42 - A Life - my Live - my path

The journey - coal miner’s community

In 1955, there was just one grocery shop in the village that
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sold the daily newspapers. In the evenings, the men went
there to hear a reading of the paper and catch up on the
news. For other people, it was word of mouth. For important
information, the town crier would go round the village.
My father had heard about job advertisements for coal
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miners in Belgium. It was the Belgian-Italian agreement .
Italy supplied the labour and Belgium the coal. The contract
on offer was for an initial period of six months. The terms
were simple: be in good health and, if possible, have rough
hands.
My father had already tried - with a few friends - to sneak
into France to find his brother by crossing the snow-covered
Alps on foot, but he was caught at the border in the first

French village. He was simply sent back home.
After a period of reflection with my mother, they decided
that my father would go and work for six months in Belgium
to earn money to pay for the work that was almost finished
but not yet paid for.
Life had changed. A lot of materials had to be bought, the
masons, the ironmonger and the surveyor had to be paid.
They saw no other way.
In those days, although every family had enough to meet
their basic needs, there wasn't much money around. Money
could only come from a day’s labour or from the sale of a pig
or other animals.

42 The shop was called "Società".
43 CECA – 1951 European Treaty for Coal and Steel.
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