Three months after the death of the entrepreneur Paolo Felice, the memory of the former mayor of Trivento Tullio Farina. “I remember the entrepreneur Paolo Felice three months after his death as a dutiful and heartfelt act, not having had the opportunity to do so at the time. It is an obligation that the bond of friendship that bound me to him imposes on me. “Like a bolt from the blue, I learned of the very painful passing of Paolo Felice, my great friend from my youth, as well as an enterprising, hard-working and courageous entrepreneur. A few months earlier I had met him in front of the Ciccarella bar and, as usual, when he saw me, he greeted me and always gave me some news, but on this occasion, knowing that I wasn’t well, he told me that he too had health problems. . Thinking that he was joking and that he wanted to show solidarity with me in some way, I replied to him with one of my usual jokes: “Paolè, don’t joke, everyone carries his own cross”. I would never have imagined that in what he was telling me there were signs of a disastrous event. As already mentioned, I have been friends with Paolo since 1968, since I was born in 1948 and he was born in 1952, we were only four years apart. In that period, I remember that I had bought a second-hand Cinquecento from an uncle of mine in Rome, because he had just obtained a license and Paolo, although he was younger, acted as my instructor as he was passionate about cars and especially trucks that his father had. His love for that car was greater than what I had, he was always cleaning and polishing it as if it were new. We were always around together with that “winch” as I called it because of its smallness. I also remember that in that year his parents put him in a boarding school in Campobasso to avoid distractions and to make him study better. He didn’t agree with the choice made by his parents and to mitigate his displeasure, every Sunday afternoon, when he didn’t return to Trivento, I went to Campobasso to get him out of college and go for a drive in the car. Having obtained his surveyor’s diploma, he immediately joined the family business and began working for its growth. He lacked neither intelligence nor willpower, much less the commitment to do well. He could always be seen on work vehicles with his usual smile and an almost innate friendliness. Good, talkative, communicative, generous, he knew how to be everyone’s friend; he had a joke for everyone, a tease with the consequent comeback that made the atmosphere cheerful and friendly. It was difficult to argue with him and if any disagreement arose he was the first to clarify and apologise. Not without reason did his workers all love him very much. I remember that on the occasion of the wedding of his son Luigi to one of my nieces, all of his workers were almost special guests. Due to the ups and downs of his life he had to start a new career path by opening a new concrete plant in Casacalenda and in this new adventure he demonstrated all of his entrepreneurship, his courage and his resourcefulness; he supplied cement for many construction works in lower and middle Molise. In short, Paolo Felice’s concrete plant was synonymous with guarantee, efficiency and timeliness in supplies. And in this new project he also had the intelligence and foresight into the future, giving his sons Luigi and Alessio the precious opportunity to develop and successfully complete the new initiative. And success in the construction business was certainly not lacking because the father’s example and teachings did not fall on deaf ears but on properly prepared and cultivated land. Today Paolo is no longer here because a cruel fate ended his life in the space of a few months, but his example of an active, enterprising and courageous entrepreneur remains indelible, to be imitated and continued over time. We will all miss him, the continuous memory of him will mitigate our sadness. With Paolo also goes an unforgettable piece of my youth that I keep and will keep forever in my heart. Goodbye Paolo, see you when it will be, in heaven to continue our trips on the Milky Way with the unforgettable Cinquecento”.
