Castelletto the struggle of a “poor” land

Giovanni was far from happy after the draw. He got the poorest plots, the most difficult to cultivate. He would have to move in carts and animals away from the village where he grew up, on steep and stony ground less suitable for wheat and corn.  Giovanni and his wife Maria rolled up their sleeves with only one goal: to survive. Those were very hard years, marked by extreme difficulty and poverty. The Manzone family of Castelletto were teased by the villagers: instead of spades, they held pickaxes. They were called «miners», always picking stones and breaking up hard ground in order to have even a small plot to cultivate.