E 'leaving from platform 1 ... 
It 's like turning the pages a bit' yellow a book still bound with wire and glue covered with a thick card stock, gold engraved figures. So, with the same mood, same with the same curiosity and wonder with which you browse, you approach Villarosa, a village in the province of Enna, which was once the territory of Caltanissetta. Icon memories of Sicily by the beauty "... veiled and blurred but not bad ..." in the words of Manzoni. A 38 Km from Piazza Armerina, where you can find the precious mosaics of Villa Romana del Casale, met the man who once called Casale Bombunetto (from the Bob-el-moon brings peace of mind) later renamed San Giacomo di Villarosa, and finally Villarosa since 1761, in honor of Rosa Resuttano by Ciotti (province of Enna), painter and architect who redesigned the development plan of the town. I wanted to look like the Quattro Canti, Piazza Vigliena Palermo, handing over a four octagonal areas resulting from the intersection of the perpendicular intersection of two main roads: Corso Garibaldi and Corso Regina Margherita, which are the districts Sant ' Anna Porta Palermo, Calvary and Sagrezia. It was then renamed after the war: Cavour, Procida, Meli and Lincoln. The architect and painter also painted the emblem of the country on a blue background enclosed in an oval with the words Casale di San Giacomo di Villarosa, stands a golden rose.
The violent earthquake of 1693 that hit Sicily, also depopulated and destroyed the ancient town of Bombunetto whose origins date back to 1250. Francesco Notarbartolo bought the barony and the estate and following a successful political marriage, became the owner of a vast territory bounded by the river Salty (salt water, hence the name) and the River Morello (freshwater). He was the son, the Duke Placido, who in 1762 won the "licentia populandi" that his father had asked for since 1731, with which he was allowed to call its possessions all those centers closer and not only wanted to move to start a new life and form a new working community. The country's economy was still very active and thriving, and the nineteenth century also saw him star in the extraction of sulfur from the mines on its territory.
It was this entrepreneurial activity that prompted the end of 1700, the notary Calogero Deodato - whose family, originally from Orvieto was transplanted in Noto (Siracusa) around 1492 - to buy mineral deposits of sulfur making it owns several estates and sulphurous. The youngest, Peter, served as Mayor of Villarosa and gave further impetus to the development of town by channeling water from the spring "Gazzana" Calascibetta of the water network she had built. It was also a member of the National History and passionate culture and traditions. Benedict, the 4th of his 12 children, also a notary, who is also mayor and then mayor under Fascism, built the first elementary school in the country and in 1932 he set up the grid. With the contribution required from the New York newspaper "Il Progresso Italo-Americano", erected the monument to the fallen. He died in 1934, the same year in which to Luigi Pirandello was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. Even the great playwright Agrigento had in its DNA sulfur mines: the day of his birth, June 28, 1867, were two carusi shoulder that led to his father Stephen, ill, owner of a solfatara, home of Chaos where his wife was about to give birth to Luigi. In "Ciaula and the moon," Pirandello describes in touching the life of Caruso, an emblematic figure of a poor Sicilian in which the forced labor of the miner to a world "in the dark" and where the impact with the light, was also that of the moon, became traumatic for those who lived among the deepest bowels of the earth, a fact known to a single dimension: the dark of night, the darkest black. In the early 900 a small railway network, to "gauge", was built by the British company that had taken Sikelia granting some mines. The decauville, wagons iron tip, so they could transport the mined material at the train station of Villarosa (inaugurated on 1 February 1876) and then diverted into the sea ports of Licata, Porto Empedocles and Catania.
But it is on the railway line that breaks the dream of many children, once they become adults. The ... "Gentlemen, in a carriage! E 'in a departure from the track the train to ... "followed by the unmistakable whistle of a stationmaster cap red breaks up a new reality, a mind that is a journey of hope, a journey of no return for many. And 'the emigrant passengers of the train with his cardboard suitcase tied by string to make sure not to miss along the way the baggage of memories, happy or sad they are, but still his past, his own experience , its membership. When the early '900 the mining sector begins to show signs of crisis, America becomes the first ideal of redemption, will follow later in the '40s, Belgium, France and Germany. On the wall of the station, a plaque that still reads, as follows: "I'm leaving, and I return to my country." threatened to shatter the dream of returning emigrant: Railways in the 90s decided to divest the station and send David Primo, a native of Villarosa, stationmaster, to dismantle it. Novello Penelope, as she likes to be called, while the day preparing the documentation required of the dismantling, at night they struggled to find the option to save the heritage of memories, to save the memory of that country so rich in history and ethno-anthropological finds . With the help of the inhabitants themselves and those who had departed from there many years ago in search of fortune, managed to collect several items of rural life and mining material that become museums. And it is a museum that makes up David First, using the abandoned cars on a siding of the small station and that, some of whom were even served in World War II in deporting Jews from Rome to Trieste, the rice mill in San Sabba, the only concentration camp in Italy with adjoining crematoria. From a place of pain become a place of culture. Inside them are reproduced in every detail and made only "pieces" completely original environments of rural life that is noble Villarosani. Some items, very precious and unique, enriching this unique monument to the memory that can boast - is also the only museum in Italy to train - as rare pieces that can be visited on 1 track, a mining wagon that was used to transport the coal mines of Belgium, who arrived from the district of Charleroix. There are even reproduced the mines with tools for extracting sulfur lamps for the exploration of underground passages, many vintage photos, a siding can be seen driving an old, a brakeman and a sentry box of the floor of 1926 for the transport of tanks in World War II. There is also a pump that was used to supply water to steam locomotives and an old phone from the wall, there is also the "house of farmer ", the" cobbler's shop and just last week, thanks to the generosity of the family sheep, was given a house that houses the museum 'to house du' miricanu "(American Home), rich in material photographic and what belonged to John Pecora emigrated to Chicago in 1968, including a turntable at the time. First David, interviewed for the Italian-American, confirms the revival of the railway station of Villarosa, saved thanks to his intervention and his love and his fellow citizens. With 200,000 tourists who visited the museum 14 years (a virtual tour through the website www.trenomuseovillarosa.com ) of which 80% did so coming to the country by train, the success has been achieved. The station is safe and the station master, who calls himself "digger culture," is now proud to show that depart from platform 1 does not only trains full of sad, but immigrants arriving tourists from all over, giving the territory the cultural dignity it deserves.
Once again, you will hear from the station of Villarosa: "Gentlemen, in a carriage. E 'in a departure from the track the train to .... "
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E 'leaving from platform 1 ...
