Cosa ne pensate? A me sembra comunque un bel modo per tenere memoria dei nostri cari. Fatemi sapere.
What do you think about it. It seems to me a good way to remember our ancestors and let them know to our sons and nephews. Let me know!
Paolo Teruzzi
My name is Guido Riva.
I want to briefly tell you the story of my life.
My father Davide Riva was born in 1844, in Cascine Bastoni (now Sant’Albino - municipality of Monza. ( Monza e Brianza District).
His profession was tailor but he was also a postman because he knew how to read and write (perhaps the only one here in our village).
My mother Maria Luisa Besana was born in 1852, in Bernareggio (near Monza). She is an orphan wih two little brothers so since she was a child she worked in a spinning mill. She was illiterate but very intelligent. She did the math in mind!
I had 7 brothers and sisters: Paolo, Chiarina, Demetrio, Giuseppe, a Demetrio who died as a child, Irene (so beautifuland sweet, who died at the age of 20 and a little boy whose name I don't know. Among the sons of Davide Riva and Besana Maria i was the eldest one. Sorry for my English. I can speak swiss, french, italian and my dialect.
So I was born in Monza in 1877.
I am in third grade at school but immediately i begin to work as a bricklayer. When i’m only about ten years old, i am put on a train all alone and i arrive in Paris where my uncle Gerardo lives (he is an architect! I dont’ know how he could study so much whwn other people in Sant’Albino was illiterate!).
In Paris, a fairly large colony of Italian masons and artisans had settled there, and more than one from our little village near Monza, Sant’Albino. Another sister of Riva Davide, my aunti Giuseppina, had lived there. Enrico Della Torre was her son. of Riva Giuseppina, sister of my father Davide. Also later, the two Della Torre sisters, daughters of Enrico Della Torre, my cousin, landed from S. Albino to Paris in Rue de la Tombe Issoire. Their sons and nepehws are still living there. So i arrive in Paris at my uncle before 1890. Right there i begin to attend politics. At the beginnig of the socialist movement I become a socialist "maximalist". Then i go to Zurich for a job. There i meet many italian emigrates. I frequent "Il Cooperativo", a place that is the meeting place of Zurich socialism and later of Italians who have escaped from fascism. This place still exists today, in Militarstrasse. I was also its manager for a period (see the postcard with me, my wife Ottilia Kuster, my doughter Anna Riva (Peyer) and socialist friends in front of "Il Cooperativo").
Then i open a "Trattoria Lombarda" in the same Militarstrasse. See the photo with me, my family and with a nice typically Lombard menu in plain sight. In my restaurant, where i work with Ottilia Kuster (whom the Riva call Elisa), i host (often free of charge) socialists from all over Europe, from the Balbanoff to the young Mussolini (when he was socialist, of course!) , then reluctant to draft (we are around 1907). The credits claimed against Mussolini are confirmed by the direct convocation made by the Duce himself who called me to the “Covo” in Milan. It’s true that my little Anna Riva (my daughter, mother of Kurt) as a little girl had been many times on Mussolini's lap (obviously before he became a fascist!).
Sometimes my brothers, who have in the meantime become quite wealthy, they send to me whole wagons of cabbage from Monza to make a truly "local" cassoeula.
I married ottilia elisa kuster, who was governess. She traveled extensively, even in South Africa. We were linked by political faith for a more just world even if we had two too different characters! She was born in Zurich.
We had 3 daughters.
Anna, the eldest of our daughters, was born in 1900 when I was 23. She is the mother of my nephew Kurt who later moved to Canada and had three children and many grandchildren.
Anna married Heinrich Peyer, police chief in Zurich. Anna was very intelligent and nice. She had dark hair.
We had our daughter Irene in 1902. she during the First World War went to live with my parents in Monza where she lived until the end. This is also why Anna and Kurt has come to Monza many times and we are so close with them!
Irene married Giovanni Tremolada with whom she had a daughter: Luigia Tremolada. Irene had a very Swiss face!
The third daughter, Rosa married Konrad.
Ottilia and I had 6 grandchildren.
We had Kurt, Heinrich, Eduardo, Lora and Heidi from our daughter Anna and Luigia from our daughter irene.
During the First World War i came back to Italy and i was soldier. Then i lived my life in Monza with my relatives until the end.
I was smart and lively. I liked to joke. Maybe a little crazy. I am happy that I was able to share my story with my grandchildren. I think it's been an interesting life and I know they're all great people, which makes me happy. Sometimes my brothers, who have in the meantime become quite wealthy, they send to me whole wagons of cabbage from Monza to make a truly "local" cassoeula.
I married ottilia elisa kuster, who was governess. She traveled extensively, even in South Africa. We were linked by political faith for a more just world even if we had two too different characters! She was born in Zurich.
We had 3 daughters.
Anna, the eldest of our daughters, was born in 1900 when I was 23. She is the mother of my nephew Kurt who later moved to Canada and had three children and many grandchildren.
Anna married Heinrich Peyer, police chief in Zurich. Anna was very intelligent and nice. She had dark hair.
We had our daughter Irene in 1902. she during the First World War went to live with my parents in Monza where she lived until the end. This is also why Anna and Kurt has come to Monza many times and we are so close with them!
Irene married Giovanni Tremolada with whom she had a daughter: Luigia Tremolada. Irene had a very Swiss face!
The third daughter, Rosa married Konrad.
Ottilia and I had 6 grandchildren.
We had Kurt, Heinrich, Eduardo, Lora and Heidi from our daughter Anna and Luigia from our daughter irene.
During the First World War i came back to Italy and i was soldier. Then i lived my life in Monza with my relatives until the end.
I was smart and lively. I liked to joke. Maybe a little crazy. I am happy that I was able to share my story with my grandchildren. I think it's been an interesting life and I know they're all great people, which makes me happy.
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