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by IVO BLANDINO
BORGONE SUSA – Mourning in Borgone: Pierina Tamasco (widow Giorno) died on Monday 6 May in her home, surrounded by the affection of her loved ones and at the venerable age of 105 years. Pierina was the doyen of Borgone Susa, and was well known in the area. Pierina arrived in Borgone in 1947 from Agropoli (Salerno), a tourist resort also known as the “capital” of Cilento, home of the “Mediterranean diet”. The fact that she was born at the end of the Great War forced her large family (she was the last of seven children) to face the difficulties that ended up causing the outbreak of the Second World War; conflict which, in addition to causing the “recall into the army” (for ten long years) of her husband Gustavo Giorno, who was to become her husband, caught her in Abruzzo (where she had gone to help her sister Elena who had recently given birth to her first her daughter). And here she lived a dramatic experience, when the Nazis, retreating after the landing of the allies in southern Italy, in retaliation razed the very town where she was hosted, San Pietro Avellano, to the ground. She had already seen snow when in 1947 (with a one-way ticket for a “sun train” she was catapulted to Borgone Susa), because if she had already tasted the harsh climate, in the deep north-west of the peninsula she had to deal with a another kind of coldness: the human one. A single family unit with both members coming from southern Italy, she was welcomed by the infamous “do not rent to southern Italians” signs. After the first winter months spent in makeshift accommodation, the young couple was forced to settle for a house without water, with a toilet on the ground floor under the external staircase which was also used to enter the house and bring the bucket of drinking water. . After all, it was the immediate post-war era, and even the majority of the “natives” lived in similar conditions. The Valle Susa Cotonificio paid a wage bordering on subsistence, and just over a decade later the slow, but inexorable, agony of the textile industry would begin. Only the luckiest found a place in the Fiat company or in related industries; the redundancy fund had not yet been invented and they experienced difficult months. But then came the joy and the reason for pride for grandmother Piera: having paid off the debts (which also proved necessary to pay the onerous notarial deed – essential for the assignment of finally decent accommodation, even if it were a council house), having sent her son to school and finally being able to dedicate herself to her grandson are her “jewels” that don’t need safety deposit boxes to stay safe. Pierina’s funeral will take place on Wednesday 8 May at 10.30 am in the parish church of San Nicola di Borgone, while the rosary will also be recited in the parish church on Tuesday 7 May at 5.30 pm. On behalf of the Director Fabio Tanzilli and the entire editorial staff, deepest condolences to his friend Claudio Giorno and his family.
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May 6, 2024
