In memory of my grandpa
While we were writing the best wishes to our friends and B&B guests for the upcoming Christmas Holidays, we remembered Paolo Rumiz and Alessandro Scillitani. Last May we had the pleasure to host them in our bed and breakfast. To our surprise they were very humble and down-to-earth. Paolo Rumiz is a known journalist and writer, and usually has a column in the newspaper “Repubblica”. His writings talk about his trips in Italy and Europe. Alessandro Scillitani is a movie director and screenplay writer, and he often works together with Paolo Rumiz.
Rumiz Paolo in our BnB, taking notes
Alessandro Scillitani
It has been a real pleasure talking with them during their stay in our BnB. The reason why they stayed is because they wanted to take daily trips to the areas of Cividale and Caporetto. The purpose was to collect direct memories from people and of places related to the First World War. Paolo called them “the keepers of memories”. The material gathered was used for a DVD documentary called “L’albero tra le Trincee”, literally “The tree between the trenches”. In the kitchen of our BnB we have many old photos, including our grandparents’ pictures. Paolo asked a lot about them, especially about grandpa Antonio. He was born on 31 October 1889 in the nearby village of Buttrio. He died during the war in the Kolovrat mountains on 9 July 1915, and now his name is remembered in the memorial of Caporetto.
My grandpa Antonio Durì
Paolo read with interest all the documents that my grandma stored, which I keep now. Later, when the documentary was released together with Repubblica, we immediately bought it and watched it. To our surprise, Paolo also included the story of my grandfather’s sacrifice, and Mercede and I are also shown with the old documents. We thanked Paolo and Alessandro a lot for honouring the memory of my grandpa Antonio.
The DVD cover “L’Albero tra le Trincee”