The work of the farmer is not easy, once it started as early as 12-13 years of age and perhaps alone, with the adults at war. In the morning when it wasn’t raining, one would look at the sky and there was only Saint Roch to carry slowly on their shoulders, in procession through the countryside to invoke the water that wasn’t there. The San Rocco Cooperative was founded in 1973 to bring together small farmers, as if it were a single entity, a family, to support each other and put their heads together, planning crops and work so that everyone can produce efficiently, having the strength to deal with large retailers and to innovate. Just like a family, where the young people are looking to the future, with many members under thirty years of age in a succession of new generations. And that’s how passion is passed on, the kind that looks at every growing plant as if it were a child, to be treated with care and attention. That passion teaches you to always move forward, never lose hope, because even the sky will eventually know how to be generous, for those who stay united and work hard.
- Horticultural Produce
Fruit and vegetables Cooperative
"Prima, d’estate, quando non pioveva, si portava il santo in campagna a processione. Si facevano tutti questi riti, non c’era altro da pregare. Serviva soprattutto quando arrivava questa stagione, non c’era il grano, allora si viveva della campagna. Se non pioveva si andava avanti con la preghiera”.
A story by
Fernando Albano and Walter Ingrosso
