Rosalia Vacca and the Dream of… Mario Cavalli
A water carrier between tradition, changes and environmental challenges
Son of a water carrier, Mario Cavalli, after a decade spent in a factory, decides to follow in his father’s footsteps, working as a head water carrier in the irrigation district of Trino for twenty-two years. During this period, Mario finds himself facing two devastating events: two serious floods that put him to the test, leading him to a state of deep prostration due to the great responsibilities that weighed on his shoulders.
In his story, Mario highlights the changes that occurred between the 1980s and 1990s, marked by the introduction of mechanization, the reduction of personnel and changes in rice cultivation techniques, such as dry sowing and laser leveling of fields. These innovations, although they improved production efficiency, contributed to a progressive impoverishment of the flora and fauna in the rice-growing areas. Furthermore, they caused the disappearance of traditional practices such as the breeding of carp and tench in rice paddies or the cultivation of water meadows, an important part of the agricultural landscape of the past.
Interview information
Country: IT
Region: Piemonte
City: Trino
Mario Cavalli
Date of birth: 01-19-1959
City: Quinzano D'Olio
Profession: Other
Languages: Italiano
Document by: Luca Ghiardo
Video by: Davide Porporato, Luca Ghiardo
Created: 07-10-2024
Questo video fa parte del seguente archivio
Rice stories
Rice stories
Food is a fundamental resource for man and his health, both through the supply of nutrients and the ability to embody traits of human culture that play a leading role in our well-being.
Over time, each territory has built original ways in which to relate to the fruits of its land, enriching them with rituals, symbolic meanings and culinary customs. Much of these relationships have been lost following the years of the economic boom, with the exodus from the countryside to urban centers, with the advent of agriculture for mass production and ultimately with the globalization of markets and the consequent impoverishment of the heritage of biodiversity and ethnodiversity.
The purpose of this archive is to collect evidence relating to the main rice production area in Europe, that is the Po Valley, and to investigate, through the analysis of textual sources and testimonies collected in the field, both what survives of this heritage, and the ways in which which has evolved and reached us, paying particular attention to the explicit and implicit links that bind food and health.
