Conzano Day 5

Wednesday 17th June 2026

There is another museum in Conzano – Immigration as Art, set up during the past 2 years by an Australian couple Stephen Copland and Meredith Brice. It is just across the street from our villa. I have arranged to donate the book I compiled on my family history to the museum. Under normal circumstances Stephen and Meredith would have been in Conzano at this time but due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East their flights had been cancelled, so they have been delayed. We met with their neighbour Anna Marbelli this afternoon and passed the book along to her for safe keeping.  We had tea with Anna and her sister Cristina at their house. Other neighbours, Paolo and Franca also joined us. Despite the language barriers we spent almost 3 hours swapping family stories.

One interesting fact we discovered was that the house Anna and Cristina live in was previously owned by grandmother’s sister and her husband, Letizia and Emanuele Arditi. Just a few doors down from them is 25 via Mezzavilla where my grandmother grew up. The Accatino family were village contadini (peasant farmers). We learned today that village farm houses included very large 2 story barns where the animals (cows, ox and chickens) and hay as well as other grains were kept. This was different to the Angelino family who lived outside of the village at Cascina Dorera (Dorera farmhouse). These village farming practices no longer take place but I suppose centuries ago it would have been necessary way of life to have all of the villagers living safely within the city walls. Conzano is after all more than 1000 years old.

All throughout Conzano we have been seeing these barns, mostly in need of major repairs.

One of the many disused barns in the village

A cascina or farmhouse outside the village walls.