(translated by Angelo's
daughter Miriam)
Serenissima Republic of
Veneto Year 1796,1798,1805,1814, Veneto invasion from Napoleone Bonaparte.
Napoleon invaded the Veneto region and stolen every kind of things that had
value like furniture, some that belonged to churches, jewelers, 40 million in
gold coins, he imposed so many taxes to the Veneto Region that people could not
eat because of all these taxes. He forced the Veneti to join the military and go
to fight in Russia. 27,000 soldiers left and only 1,000 come back home alive.
The people were fighting against the French, especially during the summer of
1809 due to the tax they imposed on wheat.
After Napoleon lost the war in Russia he finally left Vicenza and between 1814
and 1815 Vicenza went through one of the worst shortage of the history. Napoleon
gave us "as a gift" to Austria until 1866, when with fake elections we belonged
to ITALY.
The King had the strongest Army in Europe, but he did not anything to improve
hospitals, schools or factories. At that time there were a lot of Veneti that
decided to immigrate to USA, Argentina and Brasil because in these countries
they could find jobs. In 1870 a lot of them left and among them there was my
grandfather Angelo.
He was born in 1869 in Valmarana, a little town 2 Km from Vicenza. He left when
he was 17 to join the military, he was actually one of the king's guard part of
"Carabinieri" . He stayed in Parma for 4 years, they raise his rank and he was
transfer to Rome. He was the station commander of a little town name San
Giovanni Campano. He taught to the majority of the young people in that little
town to read and write.
He started dated a local girl, but laws for Carabinieri dating local girls were
very strict. To get married they had to do 8 years of service and be 28 years
old. When his commander find out that he had a girlfriend he transferred him to
Rome. His girlfriend started asking for him and she find out he was in Rome. She
left he town went to Rome to meet him and let him know she was pregnant. He told
here he did not has enough years of service to married her and if his commander
would find that out he would get in trouble. He told her he would quit, so
"after you'll have the baby you came to Vicenza". That's what she did.
The baby was born in 1893 in Rome and they got married in Altavilla Vicentina in
1894. From a friend he found out that in Brasil they were looking for workers
and they would pay their trip. He talked to his family and they all agreed it
was the best thing to do. After a month they left from Genoa with the boat
called Mafalda. They cross the ocean looking for a better future.
After 25 days they arrived in Santos. They left for the coffee plantation where
they were supposed to work. The trip lasted almost 200 km in a carriage. The guy
who was driving the carriage told my grandfather that if he'll ended up in that
plantation the owner will get them all slaves. During the night my grandfather
and his family run away. They walked several miles until they saw a "fazenda"
they knock at the door and they asked if they were looking for farmers and they
said yeas. They started working in that "fazenda" in Capivari. The next day
another carriage full of workers arrived from San Paolo. The owner of the
fazenda had a meeting with everybody. He asked who was able to read and write.
My grandfather Angelo was the only one. The owner was surprised that my
grandfather with all his skills ended up in Brasil so he asked him why and my
grandfather told him the story when he was in the military.
After a year that he was working in that fazenda he was in charge of the
plantation. Every morning he would have meeting with the farmers to let them
know what they were supposed to do. The family started growing in 1896 another
daughter was born Quintillia, in 1898 Ettore, in 1899 Maria, in 1900 Jole but
she died when she was very little. Years went by and my grandfather started
gained a lot of weight, he went to the doctor who told him if he wanted to get
better he had to go back to Italy. It was the year 1903, my grandmother was
pregnant, they left Santos and they arrived in Genoa. On May she gave birth to
Oreste, my father.
With the money he earned in Brasil, he bought some land in Altavilla and he
started building a big house. The kids were growing and they all had jobs in
construction. They moved to Vicenza (in the same house where I live right now).
My grandfather died in 1938. He was 69 years old. I never meet him since I was
born in 1941. That's what happen in the Veneto after Napoleone's invasion,
people were forced to immigrate to other countries.
Many times I feel more Veneto then Italian.
Angelo Cunico
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