Veneto market gardeners 1927

Guest blogger, Remo Berno writes about the history of Saint Pius X and the important event that will take place in the saint’s birthplace next month.

In the photo above, you see the museum of St Pius X and his birthplace.

On our website , “Veneti market gardeners,” you find the names of the pioneer families that settled on market gardens in the western suburbs of Adelaide. I’d like to point out that these families that migrated to the Lockleys area, all came from a limited area of the Veneto Region in Italy. I live in the city of Riese Pio X in the Province of Treviso, the heart of Veneto, and all these families originated from small rural towns within a radius of 40 km from my home.

Apart from the two Marchioro families that came from Malo in the neighbouring Province of Vicenza, all the others came from towns in the Treviso Province. The Berno, Ballestrin and Zampin families migrated to Adelaide from Riese Pio X. The Santin and Tonellato families came from Caselle di Altivole which is only 5 km from Riese. The Rebuli and the Rossetto families were from Bigolino, 20 km from Riese. The Zalunardo family from Castelcucco – 20 km, and the Piovesan family originated from Ponzano Veneto – 30 km. Thus, not only did they live and create their businesses in Australia, very close to each other, in the Lockleys area, but they also originated from the same area in Italy, often neighbouring country villages. They spoke the same Venetian dialect. Their ties were very strong, and this may explain why this particular community in the Western suburbs of Adelaide came to be and how it quickly grew into something that lasted for many decades.

Historical perspective
The city of Riese dates back to the VIII century. In the year 972 there is reference to the Roman Emperor Ottone 1^st , who donated the “Castrum Resii” (the Resio Castle) to the bishop of Treviso.

The most renowned and celebrated citizen of Riese is Giuseppe Melciore Sarto who was born in 1835. He died as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Pius X, in 1914. On the 29^th May 1954, he was proclaimed Saint Pius X by Pope Pius XII.

It was then that the municipality of Riese associated its name to their holy citizen, thus giving its current name, Riese Pio X.

In 1985 Saint Pius X was proclaimed the patron saint of the migrant association, “Trevisani nel Mondo” (people from Treviso in the world) because of the attention and the affection that he showed towards Italian migrants, and especially Veneti. In early 20^th century, the Catholic religion dominated the lives of Catholic Italy.

Especially in rural areas, the parish church was the centre of the community. The parish priest was probably the most influential person, even more important than the local mayor. Migrants that went to establish their lives and their families very far away from their home, settling in foreign nations maintained their faith. Pope Pius X was very concerned about this important phenomenon. In 1907 he established in Rome a seminary to prepare priests and religious to follow these migrants in the new worlds to maintain their Catholic Christianity. In 1914 Pope Pius X established the World Day of Migrants and on next Sunday 24^th September, Pope Francis will celebrate the 110^th anniversary.

 Who was Saint Pius X and why was he so important?
Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto (the future Pope Pius X) was born in the small country village of Riese Pio X on June 2^nd1835, the second of 11 children to Giovanni Battista Sarto and Margherita Sanson. Although not a peasant family (in fact Giovanni Sarto was employed at the local municipality) they were of humble origin. The young Giuseppe was a good student with a lively, impulsive and rigorous character. He never missed Christian doctrine and at an early age he often went to pray at the Marian sanctuary in Cendrole (2 km from his house).

 

After finishing primary school in Riese Pio X, he continued his secondary school studies at Castelfranco Veneto. In those years in rural villages, most children attended school for just three years. Castelfranco Veneto is 7 km from Riese Pio X and Giuseppe Sarto would walk to school, often barefoot with his clogs on his shoulders so as not to wear them out.

 

 

He continued his studies in the Padua seminary, and received his Holy Orders in the cathedral of Castelfranco Veneto on 18^th September 1858. The next day he celebrated his first Mass in the church of Riese. He was chaplain in Tombolo (province of Padua) for 9 years and in 1867 Farther Giuseppe Sarto became the Pastor of the Salzano parish (province of Venice). After 9 years, he served in the Bishopric of Treviso mainly as the bishop’s chancellor and spiritual director of the Treviso seminary. In 1885 he was proclaimed Bishop of Mantua (in the Lombardy region) where Giuseppe Sarto entered a very troubled diocese, defined as a “diocese adrift”. He was close to the poor with material help and always welcomed everyone without distinction of social class or wealth. Giuseppe Sarto’s pastoral actions were viewed very closely by the Vatican authorities with ever growing admiration. In 1893, he was elected cardinal and three days later, was promoted to Patriarch of Venice. Once again, he had to face a difficult situation because the diocese of Venice was in turmoil. As in his previous roles, Giuseppe Sarto turned matters around. He renewed the seminary, reformed studies and founded the faculty of Canon Law in 1902.

He cared for the poor in Venice and was a catechist of the young and the children.

The Catholic community fell in love with this new Patriarch, to the point that when he left on 26^th July 1903 to participate in the election of the successor to Pope Leo XIII, the Venetians flocked to farewell him. At the train station Giuseppe Sarto greeted his beloved faithful with the famous phrase “or dead or alive I will return”.

On 4^th August 1903 Cardinal Sarto was proclaimed the new Pope and chose the name Pius. His eleven years as head of the Catholic Church was filled with distinctions. He was able to understand people because he was one of the very few popes to have progressed from a small village to hold many roles in the Church. Until then, most of his predecessors were of noble origin. Men from poor families had little education and were destined to become simple parish priests. Pius X’s humble origins enabled him to better understand the communities. He died in 1914 and in 1951 he was beatified. In 1954 Pope Pius XII proclaimed him Saint Pius X. He was the first Pope sanctified for almost 500 years.

The Venetians were so impressed by this man and remembering his last words before leaving Venice for the papal conclave “or dead or alive I will return”, they started a movement that culminated in 1959 when the corpse of Pius X was transported from his grave under the Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, to Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice where it was honoured for a few days.

Upon return to the Vatican City, Saint Pius X became the only Pope to be laid to rest in the Basilica and not under it. In fact, his sarcophagus can now be worshipped under his altar that is just on the left as you enter St Peter’s Basilica.

 

Commemoration of Pio X in Adelaide
Reaching back to the Veneti who migrated to Adelaide, I would like to link Pope Pius X to these migrants. As I pointed out before, Saint Pius X was proclaimed patron saint of the migrant association “Trevisani nel Mondo”. In Adelaide there are two statues of Saint Pius X. The first one was installed in the St Francis of Assisi Church in Newton where there was a strong post-war community of Veneto migrants.

 

 

The second statue is in the Mater Christi Church on Grange Road, Seaton. The parish is entrusted to the Scalabrinian Missionary priests. I am particularly fond of this statue, because my mother Antonietta Berno Pastro organised for it be made and taken to Adelaide in 1965. During a holiday in Italy, with the assistance of the parish priest of Riese, don Giuseppe Liessi, my mother arranged to have the wooden statue sculpted by the renowned artisans in the Gardena Valley (Val Gardena) in the northern Italian province of Bolzano. The wooden statue travelled from Italy to Adelaide on the ship Galileo Galilei as part of my mother’s luggage on her return trip.

 

“Peregrinatio Corporis” – 6^th to 15^th October 2023 in Riese Pio X
The devotion to Saint Pius X is obviously still very strong in our local community of Riese Pio X, but the interest in this saint, lives on from the Vatican to the many parishes dedicated to Saint Pius X throughout the world. In Italy there are around 80 Saint Pius X parish churches, hundreds in Europe, over 80 in North America, and many others in South America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Japan. This year we will experience an extraordinary event. The glass case carrying Saint Pius X’s remains will travel from the Vatican to Riese Pio X as it did 64 years ago to Venice.

The event will mark the 120^th anniversary of the election of Giuseppe Sarto as Pope Pius X. The Giuseppe Sarto Foundation, the Treviso Diocese, the parish and the municipality of Riese Pio X will honour our saint by means of a second “Peregrinatio Corporis”.

For the first time after becoming Pope Pius X, Giuseppe Sarto will return to his town of birth for 10 days and will be honoured in the Marian sanctuary in Cendrole.  We are expecting tens of thousands of Catholics to participate in this pilgrimage. I hope to post another blog giving testimony to this once in a lifetime event.

Remo Berno
24 September 2023

All images not already attributed were provided by Remo.

 

 In this blog, Diana Panazzolo nee Santin writes about the Veneto food traditions that have been passed down to her from her mother and grandmothers and which she is passing onto her daughter and granddaughters.

The photo above shows the Santin family, Caselle di Altivole, 1973.
Front: Diana, Clara, Alan, Romildo. Front: nonno Olivo Oliviero and
nonna Maria Oliviero with Lisa.

Following her mother
Diana Panazzolo nee Santin says, “My Mum loved her traditional cooking. I use her recipes all the time – baccalà, gnocchi, biscuits and of course, crostoli.”

Diana grew up on Frogmore Road with her parents, Romildo (Nugget) Santin and Clara Oliviero, and her brother, Alan and sister, Lisa. Her parents worked the market gardens of 12.5 acres with Romildo’s brothers and their wives: Lui and Rosina (nee Tonellato) and Vito and Anna (nee Mattiazzo. The Santin families grew tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, letttuces on their land.

Romildo and Clara married in 1950 in Caselle di Altivole where Romildo had been born. After they married they lived in Adelaide at Lockleys – on the Berno brothers’ property at Valetta Road until they moved to Frogmore Road in 1952. Diana was born in 1951.

 

Diana was at school when she first started cooking for the family. Her mother worked in the Santin families’ market gardens and sometimes when Diana came home from school, she’d follow instructions and prepare the family meal. Diana still makes her nonna Tina’s tasty sardine dish that her children and grandchildren love to eat.

 

 

Making crostoli
Diana speaks with fondness about making crostoli which were always a special sweet food that her mother made. “It’s a thin white fried pastry, so light and crispy that when you have one, you just want more.”

 

Making the crostoli is now a three-generation gathering held at the home of Diana’s cousin, Sandra, and Sandra’s husband, Deni Conci. They are joined by their daughters, Amanda and Danielle and Diana’s granddaughters, Ava and Lea, and Diana’s sister, Lisa, on a date close to Christmas. Sometimes, Sandra’s sister, Denise is another cook.

It’s a big day that usually begins at 10:00 am and finishes about 4:00 or 5:00 pm.

 

The process of making crostoli

After mixing the dough, there are four main steps to make crostoli – rolling, cutting frying and sprinkling sugar on them. The whole process could take up to two hours. Diana takes her dough to Sandra’s home and rolls it through the pasta machine at least 12 times to make it as thin as possible.

Diana says that you have to feel the texture and make sure it is not too sticky.The thin dough is cut into strips before they are fried in a pot of oil for about 15 seconds.  After taking them out, it is often the children’s task to sprinkle sugar on the crostoli.

 

And the recipe…
Families pass the recipe for crostoli down to daughters although it is often adapted by the next generation. Diana has modified her mother’s recipe by using Prosecco – and has generously shared it.

Ingredients for crostoli

• 6 eggs
• 300 mls of cream
• 1 cup of caster sugar
• Vanilla sugar or essence
• 4 cups of self-raising flour
• 1 cup of prosecco or wine
• ½ cup of melted butter
• Rind of a lemon and an orange
• Juice of one orange
• 1 liqueur glass of grappa
• Essence – anise, lemon, orange – or anise liqueur or strega
• Pinch of salt
• Plain flour to roll the dough

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter traditions
Many years ago, Diana’s auntie, zia Giannina who lives in Caselle di Altivole sent her two moulds for making the pascal lamb at Easter. Diana makes the pascal lamb and marshmallow rabbits as part of the Easter feast for the family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another tradition is making the Veneto fugussa – a sweet bread made with yeast. Diana remembers that when she was in Italy in 1962, her nonna made the fugussa, put them on a cart under a tablecloth and took them to a neighbour who had a large oven and cooked them there.

Other foods that Diana cooks and that are part of her family Easter customs include baccalà made from stockfish and polenta.

Carrying on the traditions
Another tradition that Diana and her family follow is having roasted chestnuts in autumn. Diana makes brue to go with the chestnuts.

To make brue, you boil wine, sugar, cloves, chopped apple and pear, orange peel and cinnamon sticks. Once it is boiled, you set fire to the brew and the alcohol evaporates.

 

 

 

Diana also sometimes makes sbattuletto, a mixture of egg yolk, sugar, and marsala. This is added to black coffee as a pick-me-up.

Two of her mother’s traditions that Diana does not follow are cooking tripe and snails. When her nonna was alive, she would feed them with bran for several days, a process that “cleaned” them before cooking them. Diana’s Mum used to collect snails from the artichoke plants at Bolivar where the Santin families also had land. Then she would use the same process to clean the snails. When one of the Oliviero aunties came from Caselle to stay with her parents, she collected snails from Diana’s garden to prepare for a meal.

A family visit to Caselle di Altivole in 2019
Diana and her husband Roberto and two of their children and their young children visited Caselle di Altivole. Diana and Roberto stayed with one of Diana’s auntie and enjoyed spending time with relatives and renewing their knowledge of the area. Roberto’s family came San Vito di Altivole, about 6 kilometres from Caselle. Diana feels very close to her two aunties there – she says “they’re part of the connection to my Mum.”

Pride in the family food traditions
Diana loves passing on her food traditions to her family. Her daughter and granddaughters, Ava and Lea have learned how to make gnocchi and biscuits.

 

 

 Diana says, “I think my parents would be very proud that we carry on the traditions. I’m very proud of my daughter, Amanda, who is also cooking lots of her nonna’s recipes.”

 

 

 

Diana Panazzolo nee Santin and Madeleine Regan
10 September 2023

All photos provided by Diana.

 

 

Paola Squires nee Mazzocato lives in Melbourne and writes here about her family history in village of Barcon di Vedelago in the province of Treviso  in two parts. This blog is the story of her father and Part 2 will be about her mother.

In the image above, Paolo is on his Vespa in the courtyard of the family home in Barcon di Vedelago, c 1961.

Part 1 – Early life in Italy and initial emigration to Australia

My father, Paolino Mazzocato was born in 1933 in the small rural town of Barcon di Vedelago, approximately 23km from Treviso. He was one of seven living children (one had passed away at six years after an accident and one only survived for five months).

My mother, Alda Trinca was born in 1936 in Treviso but grew up from the age of three years in Barcon di Vedelago as an only child.

Barcon, in those days, and for generations prior, indeed, since the 1200s was a small rural agricultural village where the main crops harvested were grapes and maize. It is still only a small town of around 1400 residents.

Most farmers were mezzadri (sharecroppers) as a lot of the land was owned by the family Pola who had owned Villa Pola (since the 1500s) in the centre of Barcon. Therefore, any profits from crops grown or livestock, were divided equally between the landowners and the farmers. The overseer, hired by the family Pola, would organise for all crops to be weighed at harvest, and livestock to be counted and examined, and profits divided.  This was how generations of both sides of my ancestors subsisted. My mother lived just outside the villa walls. The villa has now been turned into a Birreria (brewery and bar) and a wedding/function venue.

After completing the first few years of high school Dad completed a Certificate in Agriculture and worked on the family farm.  He was very involved in playing soccer with his local team and he also told me he was a good sprinter. He liked to go out to dances, sagre, (town festivals) and socialise at home with his friends, often in the stable behind the house in winter where he would play the harmonica and also pretended he could play the piano accordion in order to impress the girls.

Despite growing up in the same small village, Dad first “noticed” Mum when she was about 16 and he was 19. She wasn’t interested in boys at all at that stage.  She was busy with her schoolwork and later, her work as a seamstress, singing in the choir at church, acting with the local amateur theatre group and doing charity work with her friends.

When she was 16, her father bought her a red Vespa and she enjoyed riding to Castelfranco Veneto on a Saturday, with her friend riding pillion, buying a newspaper or magazine and doing a passeggiata (a formal kind of walk) around town.

However, he persevered. He had a plan.

Alda’s father, Nonno Albino used to regularly spend time at the Osteria Trinca (the village bar with a bocce court) near Dad’s home. Often Dad would secretly follow him home, to make sure he didn’t fall into one of the agricultural ditches which ran alongside most road, and which were full of water.

His modus operandi– look after the father in order to impress the daughter. 😊 I asked him if he was secretly hoping Albino would fall into the ditch, so that he could fish him out and look like the hero!  He just gave me a wink.

However, Mum still took no notice.

Money was tight at home and Australia was actively recruiting workers, with promises of a good income and assisted passage.  The ads were posted on the doors of the Church and caused a lot of chatter among the young men. Dad was the second eldest in the family, his elder brother having already left for the priesthood and he decided to leave for Australia in 1956 when he was 23 years old. Mum was 20 and she still had no idea he was in love with her.

Unfortunately, before he passed away, I didn’t ask Dad how he made his final decision to leave for Australia, how long he intended to stay, or who he worked for in Queensland, but I do remember a few things he told me …

 

He left Italy from Genoa on the ship “Aurelia” with a couple of friends from Barcon, and landed in Cairns, Australia, on May 17, 1956, after stopping at various ports on the subcontinent, experiencing some cultures that he would never have dreamed in his wildest dreams.

 

 

He worked on the cane fields in Ingham for 7 months. He said it was brutal work – using scythes to cut the cane after burning it – he couldn’t believe the snakes, and rats that ran out of the cane. He couldn’t get the black soot off his hands or legs.

One day the owner of the plantation came to them and asked if anyone knew how to cook as their cook had fallen ill. Dad put up his hand and was therefore given the job – the problem was, the only things he knew how to cook were spaghetti and fried eggs! I don’t know if he ever expanded his repertoire. 😊

He left Queensland for Melbourne in 1957.

Last year my husband and I went to Cairns and followed the sugar cane trail to Ingham and Innisfail in order to experience some of the landscape that Dad may have seen during his time there. We visited a few museums and tried to learn a little about what the workers living in that region may have experienced in the ’50s. I had already started a FaceBook group “Italian Canecutters in Queensland” so I was hoping to be able to glean a little more information to add to the group’s archives.

 

I don’t know why, but it seems there are a lot more records and photos of the first wave of immigrants to the region in the 1920s than there are of those in the ‘50s. In any case, there is obvious dedication of many people still in those areas to preserve the history of the sugar cane industry and emigration, and paying homage to those young men and women who sustained the industry for so many years.

 

 

Paola Squires nee Mazzocato
27 August 2023

All photos supplied by Paola.

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For more information about Barcon di Vedelago, (And wonderful historic photos) see the following websites:

https://barcon.it/

https://fotografie.barcon.it/foto-storiche/