Playing: Un po' di te by Luca Sepe

Remembering
Nonno Mario

Versione Italiana? Clicca sulla bandiera!

On June 9, 2000, my grandfather (nonno), Marianno, AKA Mario, dad of my dad, would have celebrated his 100th birthday. He died of Liver Failure on August 4th, 1979, so he celebrated his birthday in Heaven...
He was the last of 7 children (as far as my records go), his father was almost 50 by the time he was born. His whole family, and many of his ancestors, lived in a very small village named Lusiana, near Vicenza, in Northeastern Italy.

I asked my dad to write a small biography of him since I was only 15 when he died, and truly did not know much about him, except for things that happened when he was old. It was an eye opener for me, because I did not realize how much I didn't know about him. I will be forever grateful to my dad for his wonderful storytelling.

I translated the entire page from Italian to the best of my ability, and the help of a very good and rather thick Italian/English Dictionary! :-)

This page is dedicated to his memory and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

To learn more about each picture, rest your mouse over it.

Biography of Marianno Corradin

On June 9th, 1900, in the village of Lusiana, in Lebele Street, Marianno Corradin was born to Anna Frello and Matteo Corradin, 7th and last son of the couple. The Marianno name was picked after a wealthy aunt... one never knows when if that might have come in handy someday! He was then nicknamed Mario for practicality.
Being the son of illiterate parents, they made him attend school until up until the 3rd grade, which, for those times, it was already quite a bit.
As soon as he was old enough to earn money, at 8-10 years of age, they sent him to work.
In 1915 World War 1 erupted, and one by one, all his brothers were called to serve.
In 1918 as soon as he turned 18, it was his turn to go to war, he went to the front line and joined the infantry. He and all his siblings were very lucky, as none of them perished in the war.
When the War ended, he and all his brothers returned home. At that point he took the opportunity and accepted a position as a customs officer (financial police). He was lucky to know how to read and write, and noticing what misery was surrounding him, he enlisted for a couple of years. His job consisted in the guard to the metallic network along the border with Austria and to the hunting of the smugglers (which would enter Italy to eat).
During early spring of 1920, Mario was of service along the border with Austria. There was a metallic network that marked the border between Austria and Italy, and it was the guard's task to keep it under control so that nobody could cut it and/or trespass it. The turn of surveillance was of eight hours and for no reason the guard could leave the post until the replacement arrived. The penalty was 20 years of jail if nothing happened, but if something happened, the penalty was execution. Towards the end of March, Mario was guarding the border, and he was supposed to get off at 10pm, but his replacement did not arrive. He had been under the rain for five hours already without shelter, and so he remained under the rain for another eight hours. When he returned to the barracks an unexpected high fever erupted, he was diagnosed with a double bronchitis, and everyone thought he was going to die. Two days later, after he was recovered in the Hospital, the fever unexpectedly decreased, but he found all his hair on the pillow. He was completely bold. They said that the fever had burnt the roots of his hair, and that they would never grow back. Later on his hair did re-grow a little, but only in the low part of the head, however, he did make a full recovery.
With the coming of fascism, the situation became more political, he had to hunt the antifascists, and when he learned what they were all about, he also became anti-fascism.
At the end of his 2 years he return home. It was 1922, jobs were impossible to find, but he succeeded in getting hired for six months in the construction of the "Ossario of the Fallen" of Asiago.
Without a job or perspectives, he found out that in Val D'Aosta they hired staff in the iron mine of Cogne. After we worked there for a while, he realized that this was a job which he was not particularly cut out to do, beside the fact that paid very poorly, so with some his coworkers, they quit and crossed the mountains on foot and they went in France to Chambéry, and then to Grenoble to be the dockhand of the local Port, and therefore to Lione.
He returned home in 1929 and met his future wife Rina Busa. After only 7/8 months they were married, he never did return to France, and together they went to work in a cotton factory in the Biellese (Trivero).
Soon thereafter Rina was pregnant with their first child, and she expressed her desire to be close to her family of origin for the delivery, therefore they returned to Lusiana in Lebele Street, in the house constructed with the savings of years of hard work in France.
On December 19th 1930 their first child was born, a boy they named Luciano Matteo, in memory of one aunt and the paternal grandfather.
At the time, to work far away with a small child was impossible, so they decided to stay in Lusiana. Mario had seasonal jobs at this point.
In 1932, on June 30th, Anna Clara was born, and on March 28th, 1934 Angelina.
Their economic situation at this point was unstable, with three children to raise, life was difficult. Rina raised chicken and goats but was not enough, he had to find a stable job.
In 1935 the opportunity presented itself when he found out that in Ivrea (near Turin), a factory hired workers, he left and was hired immediately.
The family remained in Lusiana, but they were trying to reunite, therefore in 1936 in September, Rina and the children made plans to move.
They arrived in Ivrea at 10pm, but there was nobody waiting for them. Mario had sent a telegram to her to let her know not to leave, because the house he tried to rent was at the last minute taken away because the owner found out he had three children that would be living there, but the telegram had not been delivered in time.
Rina kept her strength, she noticed a hotel across from the train station, and the landlady, which was very nice, telephoned the factory where Mario worked. He was very surprised and for that night they slept in the hotel.
The next day they went looking for a house, but they had to adapt to living in several huts here and there to be together for a while.
In the winter 1936/37 it was so rainy and humid they risked to lose their children from severe coughs and bronchitis, the rooms that they were living in were cold and even had water streams.
Finally the spring arrived and they found a house much better built and exposed to south, it was in a neighborhood called " Canton Fonzetto ".
Mario's health in the meantime was deteriorating and getting worse because of how frail and small he was. He had to breathe acids in the bathtubs while washing rayon at work, and the doctor diagnosed him with six months to live if he did not change his job. He was then forced to resign, and their financial state worsened, but his health returned.
In 1939 Mario had his dad Matteo move from Lusiana to Ivrea to live with them, but the owner of their rented house, evicted them in November, and they had to move to a neighborhood called "Monte Navale".
Matteo did not like the new place, it was cold and humid, and he become ill. On February 9th, 1940, he died.
In 1941 they returned to live in the house they liked in "Canton Fonzetto ", the old lady that lived there had died.
In 1943, on July 22nd, during World War 2, Mario was recalled to work for the financial police as a custom's officer. He was in service in Turin for the the manufacturers of tobaccos, and part of his duties were to go where bombings were occurring, hide and wait for them to be finished, then run to see the damages, and to avoid that people stole in the stores or the houses damaged from the bombs.
In the summer of 1944, he was first sent to Bognanco (Novara) and his job was to repress the contraband of cigarettes and foods of all kinds to Switzerland, but since Mario gave few fines, he was transferred to Domodossola. The actions of war were very frequent in Domodossola, especially with the partisans, then in the autumn of 1944 they occupied the city. Believing on what the partisans stood for, Mario became a member of the partisans of Moscatelli and participated in these actions of war. During one of these he hurt the palm of his left hand, which got infected. In the mountain where they were hiding they could not care for him, and there was the risk of losing the hand. He could not go to the Hospital, because in that area he was considered a deserter, but since he still had the uniform of the financial police, he wore it and being confident in his good fortune, succeeded to return home in two days. He went to the Hospital to take care of his hand, barely in time to avoid complications. It took months to recover, and during this time he lived in fear that they would come and look for him. Towards the very and of the war they did find him, but since there was nothing they could do, he let himself be seen.
Once recovered and the war ended he purchased a mule and he started to make transports of any kind, but to round up the income, since the house where they lived included a stable and a barn, Mario became a farmer, which he had already done in the past, a good resource for those times having milk, chicken, salami and cold pork meats.
In the meantime, his children were growing, In October 1945 his son Luciano started working in the factory " Olivetti ", a good help for the family.
In successive years also Anna and Angelina worked, giving their contribution.
Luciano married Laura in 1957 and his sisters went to England to work in a tailor's shop.
Luciano and Laura would have 3 daughters, Lorena in 1960, Silvia in 1964 and Katia in 1972. They are all living in Ivrea except for Silvia, who lives in the U.S. Lorena is married to Enrico and they have one daughter: Paola. Silvia has one son: Nicky, and is married to Greg, Katia is married to Massimo and they had twin babies, a boy and a girl, Maurizio & Giulia, in the year 2002.
In 1958 Angelina married William, an American Soldier stationed in England, and they went to live in the US. They would have four children, Mary in 1959, Lisa in 1961, John in 1962 and Bill in 1965. Mary married Jim and they had four children: Charles, Rina, Dustin and Michelle, Lisa is married to Olmedo, John married Melissa and they had 3 children: Brandy, Anthony and Alexandra, they are now divorced, and Bill is married to Annette and they had two boys, Bill III and Austin.
Anna in 1960 returned to Italy after the end of her contract from England, and she continued to sew, but with the aid of her brother Luciano, she started working for the "Olivetti" company as a general worker. She then also worked in the day care center taking care of very small children of workers of the Olivetti company.
She never married, and still today she lives and takes care of her mother Rina, who is 99 years young :-)
Going back to Mario... in 1965 he was officially 'retired', but since his pension was minimal, in order to round off the budget, he would dedicate himself to his garden and to raise the animals of the courtyard.
In 1976 the family (Mario, Rina and Anna) went to live nearby in an apartment in a condominium. It was their first time in a heated house, which would improve their health, but on August 4th, 1979 after a short illness, at 6am Mario dies. His official diagnose was liver failure.

He is buried at the Cemetery of Ivrea, Italy.

Click Here to see more pictures of the entire family and descendants

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