IL Terremoto

The earthquake and the consequences

On February the 14th 1981, the Campania region was once again rocked by a quake. This time it was not as a bad as the November quake but it sealed my fate forever.

The earth shook in a bouncing rather than a swaying motion, I was downstairs playing with friends whilst my sisters were upstairs, we had moved from our house in Via Giannone and had taken home in a new Housing complex occupied by people in need, we were one of those families.

Before making this place our new home, we had to sleep a number of nights in the mini-van and quite a few nights in the local school.

Going back to the night of the 14th of February 1981, my sisters were upstairs, mum had gone to have hair done and dad was not back from work yet.

As the bouncing intensified and the scream were getting louder and louder, I ran upstairs against the flow of people coming down, I could hear screams from all the apartments on every single floor. I finally reached our apartment; I rounded up my sisters, two under my arms and ran downstairs, mowing anyone in our way.

We parked ourselves near the playground and within 10 minutes mum and dad rocked up....Relieved to find us all safe and sound. I never forget the words my dad murmered to my mum...as my sisters were telling him that I had saved them....Chist gia sa fatt omm!!!

That night I could hear mum and dad discussing our future and what they should do.

Within a few days my parents were introduced to Chris Sumner, the minister of foreign affairs from South Australia. After spending time with us over lunch he offered dad the opportunity as a Skilled artisan to come to Australia.

Dad left for Australia on the 5th of March 1981, the day I turned 13, the day I became a Teenager.

The days that followed dad’s departure for Australia seemed like the longest days ever, I missed him a lot and could not wait to see and hug him.

The days turned into weeks and finally we had a departure date as well, our passports were ready and mum and I needed to go to Rome to pick them up.

We caught the train from Napoli to Rome, and headed to get our passports from the embassy. After finally signing all the documents and mum showing them our flight tickets the passports were released. Back then if you did not have a fully paid ticket the passports would not be released.

As we walked back to the train station and got on the train to return to Napoli. One of the most beloved popes of our time was shot in St Peter Square, 13th of May 1981.

#life #earthquake #pope #napoli #rome #irpinia #iloveit