European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Some were sent to Ventotene, others were transferred to Pisticci with us,

such as Bigi, the Member of Parliament, or Bonini.

By the time I left the colony, there were almost three thousand people confined in Pisticci:

not only political prisoners, but a bit of everything, including spies.

For three years I drove a tractor.

We arrived at the offices of the colony, where we were divided in three sheds,

since we were seventeen or eighteen.

As I walked in, others were already inside.

I started to explain to them how we were lucky that the number of socialist countries was growing,

thanks to the Soviet Union – they had just occupied Sweden, Norway and Lithuania at that time – and how great the Russians were.

Come morning, a tiny man called me over and asked me where I was from.

I told him I was from Reggio Emilia, so he told me:

“Are you really sure about the things you were saying last night?”.

I thought he was crazy.

He was a professor from Milan, whose name was Lonato. We were in great terms after that.

With us, there were also prisoners from Parma.

I’m not saying I liked it there, because it was always confinement.

However I was younger than the others, and I understood that this was an advantage.

I was with a man called Bonini, from Villa Seta, who was around forty-five years old

and had a wife at home, renting a small farm and taking care of the kids: