TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1021151
"Mezzadria is a farming system, and a relationship between landlord and farmers, that dates back to the Middle Ages," said Lysy. "And it worked when the landlord was a good landlord and it was terrible for the peasants when the landlord was mostly absent, as they mostly were. They were mostly noble people living in the cities, in the big cities, with no interests in their peasants, and their land, except for what they could squeeze out in the way of taxes." For the people at La Foce, however, with an invested landowner, life had been good. "For them, the Mezzadria system worked very well," said Lysy, "because it requires the peasants to give half of their crops to the landlord. In return, the landlord makes investments on the land. My grandfather carried out a huge amount of agricultural work with irrigation ditches, and building roads, and rebuilding new farmhouses. And of course, there was all the social work that my grandmother did--the clinic, and the schools. It all came together." But the tides of change eventually caught up with them, forcing them to adapt or go under. "It was easier for us than most, because a lot of people were very deeply rooted here, they didn't really want to go and work in towns, and of course my grandparents tried to keep them there with every incentive," she recalls. "But, in the end, people were also just not content with a rural lifestyle anymore. I mean, this was the 60s and 70s, and a lot of exciting new things were happening. They wanted to be away from the countryside." The Origo family adapted. Upon the deaths of Antonio and Iris, the estate was left to Benedetta, who was three when the diary ends,