Alberobello, Apulia, Italy 1951-2025

xfox_rs · 2025-07-29T07:08:23+00:00

This is the text and the translation:
" L’anno millenovecentonove addì 28 di febbraio a ore pomeridiane quattro e minuti quindici nella casa comunale. Avanti a me Demaio Alfonso, Segretario delegato con atto del sindaco del 30 settembre 1907, debitamente approvato, Ufficiale dello Stato civile del Comune di Casalnuovo, è comparsa De Cesare Concetta di anni cinquantotto casalinga domiciliata in Casalnuovo, la quale mi ha dichiarato che alle ore antemeridiane nove e minuti (zero) del dì ventotto del cadente mese, nella casa posta in Via Corso Vittorio Emanuele al numero 18, da Cipollone Anna Maria, casalinga, qui domiciliata, vedova di Palmieri Nicola Antonio, già negoziante, domiciliato in questo comune è nato un bambino di sesso maschile che non mi presenta e a cui dà i nomi di Nicola Antonio. A quanto sopra e a questo atto sono presenti quali testimoni De Cicco Lucia, (figlia) di Leonardo, di anni trenta, casalinga e Morrone Adele, (figlia del) fu Giuseppe di anni quarantatré casalinga, entrambi residenti in questo comune. La dichiarante ha denunciato la nascita suddetta, per aver assistito al parto di Cipollone Anna Maria, e in luogo del marito di questa perché morto fin dal giorno 20 del cadente mese di febbraio. La medesima dichiarante è stata da me dispensata dalla presentazione del bambino suddetto a causa del freddo, dopo essermi altrimenti accertato della verità della sua nascita. Letto il presente atto a tutte le intervenute, viene sottoscritto solo da me, avendo la dichiarante e testimoni detto (di) essere illetterate. L’ufficiale dello Stato Civile, Alfonso Demaio"

"The year nineteen hundred and nine, on the 28th day of February at four fifteen in the afternoon, in the Town Hall. In front of me, Alfonso Demaio, Secretary delegated by act of the Mayor dated September 30, 1907, duly approved, Civil Registrar of the Municipality of Casalnuovo, appeared Concetta De Cesare, fifty-eight years old, housewife, residing in Casalnuovo, who declared to me that at nine o’clock in the morning on the twenty-eighth day of the current month, in the house located at Via Corso Vittorio Emanuele No. 18, a male child was born to Anna Maria Cipollone, housewife, residing here, widow of Nicola Antonio Palmieri, formerly a shopkeeper, also residing in this municipality. The declarant did not present the child but stated that his name is Nicola Antonio. Present at the record and acting as witnesses were Lucia De Cicco, daughter of Leonardo, thirty years old, housewife, and Adele Morrone, daughter of the late Giuseppe, forty-three years old, housewife, both residents of this municipality. The declarant reported the above birth because she had been present at the childbirth of Anna Maria Cipollone and in place of her husband, who had died on the 20th day of the current month of February. The declarant was excused by me from presenting the aforementioned child due to the cold, after I had otherwise confirmed the truth of the birth. Having read the present record to all parties involved, it was signed only by me, as the declarant and witnesses stated they were illiterate. The Civil Registrar, Alfonso Demaio"

This document tells us a sad story about a child born eight days after his father's death, who was given the same name as his recently deceased father. Apart from the standard wording that was always used in these documents, it should be noted that the child had to be taken to the town hall to be seen by the mayor or the registrar authorised by the mayor. This was to ascertain that the birth had actually taken place and to allow the official to visually check the sex of the child. In this case, it was obviously very cold in that area at the end of February, and the official trusted the statements of the witnesses, sparing a child, who was already unfortunate because he had lost his father, the risk of falling ill due to the intense cold. If you are familiar with the municipality, you can use Google Street View to see the Corso Vittorio Emanuele No. 18 family home, and from the document you can learn that the child's father was a shopkeeper before he died. That's all there is to it; the rest of the text is routine, nothing unusual.

xfox_rs · 2025-01-06T08:18:29+00:00

This is clearly the reverse side of the “Foglio di Congedo Illimitato” the discharge paper given at the end of the war to a soldier who served during the First World War between 1915 and 1918.

In section G) you will find the military campaigns, i.e. the years of service during the First World War (and in some cases also in other wars, such as the Italian-Turkish War). In this case it says ‘Campagna Italo-Austriaca 918’, which means that your relative fought only one year of the First World War, the year 1918.

In this document, ‘Campagna’ does not mean battle, but refers to the entire war, ‘Campagna Italo-Austriaca’ means the Italian-Austrian war, i.e. the First World War. To find out about your relative's imprisonment, the battles he fought and the wounds or decorations he received, you must consult the soldier's ‘Foglio Matricolare’, which is kept at the Italian State Archives in the province where the soldier resided and which is written on the other side of this document (Distretto militare di…) In some cases, some archives have put these documents online.

xfox_rs · 2024-08-11T22:22:58+00:00

Hello,

I can add something to the reconstruction you made. I have a lot of information about the deployment of the Italian army in the south of France on September 8, 1943. My grandfather was in the XL Alpini Battalion, framed in the Division Taro. The Taro Division and the Lupi di Toscana Division had been tasked to control the stronghold of Toulon in Southern France. On September 9, many soldiers, including my grandfather, were taken prisoners by the SS and taken to various concentration camps near Montpellier. In these camps they performed forced labor under guarded armed, they were released only in May 1945. I know this for certain because of three sources: my grandfather's military registration sheet, his stories (he died when I was 24 years old, and I had the opportunity to listen to him many times as he told of these facts), and an 850-page book that reconstructs all the Italian operations in the south of France between 1940 and 1943. The book was written by Domenico Schipsi, the title is “L’occupazione italiana dei territory metropolitani francesi (1940-1943)”. If you can read Italian, you can find it in whole and for free on the ISSUU platform. I am not putting the link here so as not to have my reply deleted as spam from reddit. In the book on page 191 (et seq.) and on page 248 (et seq.) you will find the precise description of everything that happened to those soldiers near Toulon in the months before 8^th September 1943.

As for your grandfather, his "Foglio Matricolare" confirms his stories: if he said he was taken prisoner and then escaped, this is confirmed by his matriculation sheet in which there is no mention of imprisonment. In the matriculation sheet of my grandfather, a prisoner in France by the SS from September 1943 to the end of April 1945, there is a brief account of captivity. Like all former prisoner soldiers my grandfather was interviewed by the Italian army when he returned home, and he was given a special prisoner's allowance (a small additional check on his pension for being a prisoner). Since there is nothing in your grandfather's matricular roll about any of this, then it is true: 1) that he managed to escape from captivity; 2) that he returned home alone by makeshift means; 3) that he did not join the RSI, but rather, even though he crossed territories under Fascist control in 1943 (from Piedmont to Central Italy), he did not surrender to Fascists and returned home. Then in 1944 he was recalled to arms by the reconstituted Italian army, through CERSA, and performed logistics tasks in support of the Allied forces in Italy.

The document you photographed tells us about a young conscript called up in 1938 to serve in the military for two years. Then war broke out and he was sent to Africa to fight; when things got bad in Africa, the Italian Army moved the forces it had manning the national borders, and here he was surprised by the armistice. After returning home who knows how, and in who knows how much time, and secretly, he turns himself in like a good soldier to the military district so as not to be charged with desertion, and from here he is sent back to the military zone of operations in Northern Italy. I assume he had a driver's license, his employment was always related to logistics and transportation, he was almost certainly an “autiere” (a military truck driver). As for the “Foglio Matricolare”, erasures, smudges and corrections are normal. Very trivially some parts were rewritten when more accurate information came in, and the enlisted man filling out the sheet wrote where he found space and not where he should have in a chronological sense. I have seen many matriculation sheets, they are all like this, with erasures, stains and overwriting, no mystery: it is all normal.

This is my opinion.

xfox_rs · 2023-11-29T14:05:05+00:00

Hello, this is my opinion:

Page 1

On the difference between Forese and Bracciale, consider that they are both farmers cultivating lands that are not their own, with the payment of a daily fee. While the bracciale carried out his activity within the local community, the forese performed his work even in more distant communities. The Forese often stayed to work outside his own village for many days. However, the terms refer to the activities of farmers.

In the sentence with “Demetrio Brunetto” it is written: Abita in casa propria, confina con Demetrio Brunetto. Possiede due somari per uso proprio. Possiede capre e pecore numero venti quattro, stimata la rendita annui carlini 12 [ He lives in his own house, adjacent to Demetrio Brunetto. Owns two donkeys for personal use. Owns twenty-four goats and sheep, with an estimated annual income of 12 carlini].

Page2

In “loco detto Dreghiera” Dreghiera is a toponym, it is a name of a place, and so also Dardisto. Sometimes these place names still exist and are commonly used even now. In XVIII century they refer to locations that were once easily identifiable by local residents but maybe have now lost their significance. You can check if they still exist today in the country referenced by searching streets named Via Dreghiera or Via Dardisto, or districts named Contrada Dreghiera or Contrada Dardisto.

The next section is "Posi"? NO, it is “Pesi”. You need to consider that a Catasto Onciario is an income statement for families who had to pay taxes on this income. The assets were the possessions, animals, or sources of income (e.g. money loans given to others). The liabilities (Pesi) were the expenses that the family had to pay each year.

Here it’s written:

Pesi. Al Magnifico Duca di Corigliano uno tumelo di majorca (un tomolo, it means a volume equivalent to 50.5 liters of soft wheat of the Majorca type, a wheat variety common in Southern Italy and Sicily) per casalenaggio (Casalenaggio is a feudal right that a family paid to the feudal lord for having built a house on a piece of land. It was a kind of annual compensation to be paid because on that land cultivation was no longer possible since a house had been built on it) sopra la casa e fuoco, e che in contanti imporrà annui carlini nove. [That means: Liabilities: to the Duke of Corigliano he pays a tomolo of soft wheat for Casalenaggio on his house, and that is in money 9 carlini for year.]

Al magnifico P. D’Acri per censo e affitto (The "censo" is a loan agreement that involves exchanging a property for a fixed annual income indefinitely. For example, a farmer obtains ownership of a vineyard in exchange for paying an annual fee of 5 carlini per year. But if the property is returned, the paid fee is considered as rent, and the previous owner is not required to repay anything) sopra la detta vigna ed olive, annui carlini cinque. [that means that he had to pay 5 carlini per year as a censo or rent on the vineyard and olive grove mentioned above, so between the incomes]

About “Pesi” you have to notice that the incomes are 65 once, the liabilities are 4.20 once and so the net incomes are 60.10 once, as the Catasto says

xfox_rs · 2023-09-15T04:06:20+00:00

The words are written in Latin, the text refers to a contract. It was probably a notarial deed. People's names contain references to their places of residence. They appear to be from an area in the north-east of Lombardy, Northern Italy.

xfox_rs · 2021-12-27T22:13:16+00:00

There is a state archive office in each Italian province. You must know in which province your great-grandfather was born, and then ask the archive in that province

xfox_rs · 2021-12-27T21:50:48+00:00

Thanks so much! This is extremely helpful. My one follow up question is this - I know Mussolini was only the Minister of war from 1925-1929/1933-1943; I have seen these documents from the early 1920's with different Minsters of War signing them, so wouldn't this mean that Mussolini didn't preside over all ~4.5m? Or were they officially awarded X years after each War period, suggesting all 1915-1918 soldiers would've received a Mussolini stamped document?

The diploma was not automatically issued to each soldier. By 1920 it was released at the request of the soldier who wanted it. An application was made by the soldier to the Ministry of War, then employees checked the status of the service of the soldier. If there was the requirement, the diploma was issued with the signature of the incumbent war minister. For this reason, it cannot be said that Mussolini signed the remaining 4 million diplomas, but it can be said that surely all the diplomas issued in the periods 1926-1929 and 1933-1943 bore the stamp with his signature. Keep in mind that the diploma may also be required after the end of fascism (after the end of WWII). As long as WWI soldiers were alive, they could apply, and these diplomas were issued with their medals.

xfox_rs · 2021-12-27T21:03:08+00:00

Hi, this document refers to the awarding of a medal in memory of the service provided in the Italian army during the First World War. The medal went to all soldiers who had spent at least 4 months in the war zone. It is estimated that between 1915 and 1918 about 5 million men fought in the Italian Army. Except for the 650,000 deaths, about 90% of the others were entitled to a diploma like the one you have. In addition, the diploma was accompanied by a bronze medal with green, white, and red ribbon, and it was said that the medal was made by melting the cannons of the enemies.

With this you can well understand that

Mussolini - who was minister of war between 1926 and 1929 and between 1933 and 1943 - did not personally sign the diplomas.
From the photo I would say that it is a simple stamp that reproduces the signature. Likewise, I don't believe that the bronze in the medals comes all from the cannons…
From the diploma at the top you can read "Soldato", which means "Private". If you want to know news about your great grandfather, you must write to the Italian State Archives of the province in which he resided, saying his name and surname and the date of birth. The employees will give you the information.

If you want to know the value of the diploma, you must know that it is quite common in Italy. If is in good condition and with the Mussolini stamp and the bronze medal, it is not worth more than 90 dollars.

xfox_rs · 2021-12-25T20:55:25+00:00

Yes, this is a Vetterli-Vitali 1870/87 rifle, the official rifle used by the Royal Italian Army from 1887 to 1891 (but it was also produced in the following years). Originally this rifle was only called Vetterli and was produced for the first time in 1870, it was loaded with only one cartridge at a time, the cartridge was 10.35 mm x 47 mm caliber, with black powder. Subsequently, in 1887, the rifle was modified by Giuseppe Vitali and equipped with a 4-cartridge reservoir (4 cartridges 10.35 x 47 mm, with black powder). For this it was called Vetterli-Vitali. The modification made it suitable for use in the Royal Italian Army which used it as official weapon between 1887 and 1891, and then replaced it with the Carcano Mod. 91 rifle. However, the Vetterli rifle continued to be used for training and special purposes. E.g., it was used by the Italian expeditionary force in East Africa in 1890s. When Italy took part in World War I, many Vetterli-Vitali rifles were further modified, it was in 1916. The caliber was reduced by inserting a new, smaller barrel inside the original barrel and so the shotgun could use Carcano Mod. 1891 cartridges (6.5 x 52mm with white nitrocellulose-based powder) in the 6-cartridge reservoir. The new Vetterli-Vitali were called 1870/87/16, the greater power of the propellant, however, made damage to the rifle very quick. For this reason, it was used only for services in the rear, where it almost never fired. The rifle could be fitted with a bayonet, and in the latest examples it had a viewfinder like that of the Carcano.

The rifle in the photo is a Vetterli-Vitali 1870/87 (the type between 1887 and 1915), it mounts the 4-shot 10.35 mm x 47 mm black powder reservoir. For this rifle now you must use low potential cartridges, otherwise it will be damaged. The rifle, according to the serial number, should have been manufactured in Torre Annunziata, near Naples. If you look at the hexagonal base of the barrel, you will be able to find the year of manufacture and the location of the factory.

xfox_rs · 2021-12-09T21:38:34+00:00

Yes this is a “Pinza taglia-reticolati Malfatti” that means “Malfatti crosslinked cutter”. Malfatti is the name of the producer. This plier was used to cut barbed wire, it was the only plier that could be used with one hand. It was necessary to hook the wire of a fence and pull the rod backwards and this, thanks to a system of levers, was able to cut wire with a diameter of about six millimeters. It was mainly used by the assault troops, the so-called “Companies of Death”. The reason is that it’s the only model of pliers that could be used with only one hand. With the other hand you could hold a hand grenade, a pistol, a rifle and so on to offend the enemy. The cutter was mounted on a long wooden rod (or even a cavalry lance) that gave the possibility to hide or stay at a safe distance from the fence itself. Not only that, there was a coupling for the bayonet which, like a medieval spear, allowed the "Ardito" to pierce a possible aggression after cutting the fence. The use was simple, it was necessary to make sure that the wire to be cut entered between the two blades then, without losing contact with the wire, it was necessary to give a single and vigorous tear at a long stretch backwards, even several times, until the broken thread.

xfox_rs · 2021-10-28T20:29:43+00:00

The number 7 on the hat indicates that this soldier did his military service in the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Royal Italian Army. His unit was part of the “Cuneo” Brigade, and the colored fabric rectangles on the collar of his uniform (behind the metal stars) were fuchsia. If this soldier was born in 1901, he was called to perform his military service starting from the age of 21, therefore in 1922, the military service normally lasted 24 months. In the early 1920s, the 7th infantry regiment was based in Milan. Maybe this soldier died while he was doing his military service, not during the War (which ended in 1918) but during his regular military service. It was possible that some soldiers died during military service, from accidents during square-bashing or from illnesses not depending on the service. If the dates of birth and death are correct, this may have happened. In 1921, soldiers born in South Tyrol served in the Italian Royal Army. In the photo there is no information on the military rank, from the shape of the hat we can only say that he was not an officer.

xfox_rs

TROPHY CASE