Sgurbiol. Delle cose e del tempo di Lelia

A “sgurbiòl”, no longer a child but not yet a woman, Lelia spends her childhood on a farm in the Bassa Modenese. Dairy cows for Parmigiano cheese, sharecropping as in the 19th century, water drawn from the well, and the outhouse behind the pigsty. Even the youngest work in the fields, their fears being the whirlpools of the Panaro River and the Black Brigade raiding at night. School is scarce, especially for girls, even after the war ends. Lelia resents ignorance; she reads Les Misérables by the light of a kerosene lamp and studies at party meetings. The girls trade dresses to go dancing, but peace is slow to take hold. The gunfire continues, and it is the farmers and workers who fall. In the factories, women are needed for delicate tasks. Lelia and her sisters move to the city to become factory workers. She supports her parents, works hard, and rises to become a department supervisor. She stands her ground in the union, returns to school, yet in the factory, she is still paid less than her male colleagues. It is women and men like her who built our freedoms, our peace, and our prosperity. Lelia guides us through the circles of great history, yet she will leave only a faint imprint upon it—the foundation of the quiet, everyday history from which we all come.