For
Nonno Giuseppe & Nanna Caterina
Nonno Giuseppe & Nanna Maria
We came back to walk a while along the same paths you followed.
Whilst the North makes progress in political and economic cohesion, Calabria remains mired in Bourbon and French occupations’ feudalism. The Mazzini-inspired adventurer Garibaldi unites Italia under the remnants of the Austrian vassal Kingdom in Piedmont. Not everyone is pleased with the ‘fait accompli’. Laws to curb the legacy brigandage unfairly burden peasants; ‘mafia’ becomes synonymous with banditry. Italia’s politics are driven by European well-being and emerging liberal and socialist ideologies. The Catholic Church realises that secular governance is inevitable. Expansionist miscalculations in Ethiopia lead to defeat at Adwa. The Vogels become part of the Volksdeuchen colonisation of the Balkans. Mussolini emerges on the sidelines of the impending war. Giuseppe Simonetti transitions from a pastoral lessor to an owner. The Fascist’s ascendency leads to renewed expansionary adventurism in North Africa. Giuseppe Attisani joins the road construction gangs in Abyssinia and buys the Pontana farm, others begin to emigrate. Churchill meanders through British colonial wars and politics. At times he stumbles but will influence Italia’s future. After Simonetti’s emigrate, Italia becomes mired in a politico still unable to maintain social balance, left-wing terrorism takes hold. The 21st Century presents challenges to the Democracies of the West. We’re in it together.