European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

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.

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?”.