European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Four years of confinement in Matera

We were taken to a farming penal colony, called “Colonia Confinati di Pisticci”, near Matera.

It was a farming colony, so once we got there we began to work.

If you want I can quickly tell you this story. The issue with this colony was

that it was opened when they had to close down the island of Ponza.

You see, in Ponza there were people like Terracini, Volponi, Cuccimarro

and other guys of this kind, who were lawyers.

As a consequence, everyone who was there, even the smallest farmer,

would be schooled by the time he left the colony: they all studied!

Terracini was there, for example, and when it was time to eat

– there were large tables for eight – he took that time to explain things to the others.

It was mostly for this reason that they decided to close down the island of Ponza.

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.