Women's Portraits

Bruna Marchetti

An 82-year-old woman born in Bondeno in the province of Ferrara, she has a high-school diploma and has always worked as a teacher. She is a widow with two children but no grandchildren. Her mother was a cook and her father a blacksmith.
She considers her life to be “tolerable” and hopes to keep her health in the future.

Interview

The time I recall with most pleasure is the birth of my daughters and bringing them up. I don’t often think back to my own childhood.

I felt loved and supported. My father was a committed socialist, and my mother was competent and skilled in many crafts. They both instilled in me a love of reading and music from a very young age; Verdi and Matteotti were ever-present in my house and I know their works well. The socialist ethic and the love of music were my guides as I grew to be the person I am today.

A decisive role in the choice of my profession was played by my elementary school teacher – a “fair” woman, who, despite the fascist era, never tried to indoctrinate us. I also owe to her my interest in philosophy and pedagogy, which I started to nurture from twelve years of age.
I wanted to become a teacher and one I became, together with my complementary and necessary commitment to social issues.

Fortunately, I have never had to do without anything in particular. In the time immediately after the war, I was strong enough to save the municipal mobile library service – against the wishes of the local authorities, who were more preoccupied with setting up the Youth Front at that time.

For me, family means a lot; you need to get very old before you really understand this. The family I was born into and the family I created when I was an adult were, for me, vital environments.
Family teaches you the importance of looking after oneself, respect for others, tolerance, mediation and a sense of personal dignity – all fundamental to helping you understand life.

I’m satisfied with how I brought my children up – I did my best. Now we live in the same house, each respecting the lifestyle and choices of the other. I feel that I can rely on them, although, at the same time, we all know how to recognize the value of mutual aid. I remember clearly the beauty of seeking to satisfy the curiosity and answer the questions of my growing daughters. My different roles as woman, mother and teacher were complementary.

A difficult time in my life was the divorce of one of my daughters. She lived in an area of Southern Italy where the family context tended to undervalue and marginalize her autonomy as an active, culturally committed, working woman. After the separation she continued to living and working in the South, and I was afraid for her. After the death of her father, however, she came back to live in our house in Ferrara.
A good experience I remember, on the other hand, was when I was on a Town Council in the lower Ferrara area, in particular setting up the first secondary and nursery schools and protecting the green public spaces; the public gardens are still a great source of personal pride.

My life from 40 to 60 years of age? “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann. I became seriously ill and remained in a hospital in Cortina for a year. The separation from my daughters (they were 11 and 6 years old at the time) and from my home helped open my mind, allowing me to renegotiate my relationship with my husband. It was a very difficult time but I was very determined and my life changed.

I often think about my past and I don’t regret a thing.

I lived not for art but for love, and I didn’t harm a living soul...” (from the opera Tosca by Puccini) describes me perfectly. I remember my job as secular teacher caught between Jehovah’s Witness parents – of which there were plenty at Goro - and the arrogance of the town priest. The innocence of the children helped me to avoid conflict and/or to manage it better with a rainbow of teaching ideas and a strong empathy with children.

The most difficult time was the first 9 years of my marriage. I felt trapped by the charm of my husband, an important public figure, and by the power of his family, who didn’t give me space to breathe.

At this time in my life I am the “lady of the house”. Although I have the help of many, I am still able to read, embroider, garden, cook and go for the occasional walk.
The closeness of my daughters and son-in-law, although each of us maintains our own space, gives me daily contact and reciprocal aid.
Almost all of my friends are dead, and even the death of my dog was painful for me. I keep all of them in my thoughts and thanks to this I still have energy. As regards my future, it will be enough for me to be able to look after myself. I don’t believe in the hereafter and I hope to die suddenly, without becoming a burden to my family.

On the whole, I’m content with my life, even though I have lived through difficult times. The most important values in my life are an interest in people and in differences. Integrity, family, health and childhood are my primary values.

I’m pessimistic about the future of society; the decline in civility and culture has become too great.

I advise the younger generations to study and not to be afraid of differences between human beings, and not to seek fortune or fame.

Liliana Guidetti