My name is Giuseppe, like my grandfather, but everybody calls me Popi and I am 78 years old.
When I was young, after graduating in engineering and my first working experiences, I left Milan.
For many years I worked for important multinational companies so I lived in different cities, also abroad.
However when I retired, I returned to my old family house in Tortona neighbourhood.
It is an historical building, built in 1907.
Some members of the family still live in the upper floors and the courtyard is private, but in the same courtyard and in the spaces next to it (2500 sqm) up to the 70s there was the company created by my grandfather and managed by my father. In Italy, we say “casa e bottega”!
The company produced handcrafted straw hats, which were fascinating, original, refined and in great demand by the main fashion maisons at that time, such as Borsalino. At the end of the 30s, in line with the historical and political period, my grandfather’s company used to produce also colonial hats..
The precious materials were selected by my grandfather from different countries,also from Japan.
At the arrival in our laboratories they were washed, whitened, cut, sewn and trimmed in the different production departments, before going to the hydraulic press to give a lasting shape.
During our childhood and adolescence my sister and I were the mascots for people working in the company. Some of them used to chat and to play with us,
During the heyday the company employed almost 400 workers, but I remember just one in particular.
His name was Ugo, he came from Tuscany, he was full of energy and had a sparkling spirit: he always knew a good proverb for every situation. He smoked cigars and he had the habit of eating even the last part of his tobacco.
He was responsible for the washing phase and he used to explain some tricks he had learnt in his long years of experience.
He never complained of hard work and he said to he felt lucky to provide a flat and food for his wife and his children.
I thought he considered me a smart boy, also a bit privileged, so I gained his respect when I started to work in the family business at the age of thirteen. It was a family custom: my grandfather had started as a worker many years before and he reached the great honour to become “cavaliere del lavoro”, very important title in Italy.
At the beginning I did little humble jobs my father assigned me: I was happy, money was useful for me to go out with friends and for some other extra expenses. With my first salary I bought a modern guitar, which was more attractive and easy to learn than the old one we had at home.
I remember the enormous satisfaction when the first hat I had helped to realize was finished.
That job was exciting, also in the relationship with clients and providers, so I went on to help my father, as much as I could, also during college and universtiy.
I would have probably continued to work for the family company, if – in the meanwhile, - fashion hadn’t changed and low price products hadn’t come onto the market. The competion forced my father to close the company. It was hard for him and for many people still working with him, even though there were less employees than ten years before. As entrepreneurs we felt very responsible when taking that inevitable and bitter decision.
Fortunately when the company closed Ugo had already retired, otherwise I would have been even sadder.
When I left Milan , Tortona district was still a close-knit neighbourhood, we all knew each other.
My family was not simply known but I think also appreciated: we gave luster to the area and, while we were still opened, we also induced activities: for example our employees used to eat in the typical milanese restaurants located in the nearby streets.
I didn’t lose completely my roots with the area because my mother remained there and I used to go back and visit her. Especially during Christmas and Easter holidays when my wife, my children and I spent more time with our relatives. However I realized the deep transformation of the neighbourhood only when I came back as a resident.
If I have to give my personal opinion I would say that, even if none of the realities existing when I was a child resisted, the new activities - especially in fashion and design- have mantained the ferment and industriousness that characterized the Tortona neighbourhood after the war and up to the 70’s.
I like living there and not only because of my childhood memories!
what the archive is about
The Living Archive explores the potential of (post)industrial heritage to transform production in our cities. We collect stories with participatory heritage methods. The nodes for the local collection efforts are Fab City Hubs (FCH). The collection has been carefully assembled by FCH teams who have been learning about, co-creating and applying participatory heritage-making approaches, emotion networking methodology, oral history principles and creative perspective-taking. Select tags and categories to filter stories in the archive below. Explore their connections in the network graph.
