Za' Mariuzza

A weaver from Castelsilano: the Great War, a husband who left for America and never returned, a son lost at six.

Maria De Biasi was born in 1892 in Casino, the village now called Castelsilano. A weaver, she lived through the Great War and married soon after. Her husband emigrated to America for work, started another family there and never came back.

In 1920 her son Leonardo was born; he died of pneumonia at six. Maria never remarried: she went on waiting, worked at her loom and spent her evenings in the square telling stories to the village children. She lived to ninety-eight.

Salvatore Mazzei knew her in person, and in the book he tells how. Hers is not a name from the history books: she is one of the many women who kept homes and villages standing while the men were at the front or overseas. «Za'» means aunt in dialect, a respectful way of addressing older women.

Salvatore Mazzei is not a historian: he gathers stories and tells them in music. These lines are a starting point for anyone who wants to look up the sources and form their own view.