1.3 Time for school arrives

In 1952, upon turning six years of age, Luciano began primary school, attending the five years of this course in the castle of Barolo. It is true that the castle with its imposing setting was somewhat daunting, but for Luciano attending school was stimulating. He was particularly curious about the opportunity to learn and discover. He quickly began to master writing and reading, and this made him feel even more grown-up than he was. "In those years, – Luciano specifies – I enjoyed going to my grandparents' in Borgata Pozzo di La Morra. Partly because my grandmother Annunziata was a very good cook and even then I already liked to enjoy the right traditional dishes. And also because my grandfather Cichin, in the autumn season, would take me truffle hunting in the locality of Poretto, in the area of Bricco San Biagio. I remember that then I was still a bit slight and rushing about between the farmyard and the fields I had hurt my leg. So Cav. Cesare Borgogno, our neighbour – who had always taken a particular interest in me – had found a way to send me to a summer camp in Marina di Massa, in Tuscany. I stayed there a couple of months in summer and learnt to speak Italian so well that when I returned home I could no longer remember the Piedmontese dialect. Fortunately I was quick to resume my old habits and Piedmontese became my preferred language once again". At the end of the primary school cycle, it was time to move on to middle school, and for that course of studies too, in agreement with his mother and father, Luciano decided to continue in Barolo, in the castle, where those schools were run by the Comboni Fathers. When everything seemed set to continue normally, about halfway through the first year of middle school, without any warning signs of particular problems, the Comboni Fathers decided to leave Barolo, leaving Luciano and his classmates in limbo. A bolt from the blue! No one knew what to do: for a few days there remained hope of finding another solution in the village, but even that prospect gradually faded. So a decision had to be made. The most obvious solution seemed to be to go to Alba and attend middle school at the Scuola Vida, but this solution did not convince Luciano and was not favoured by the family either. While everyone was trying to find a solution, Luciano discovered that in Monforte d'Alba there was an Avviamento course equivalent to middle school, which also offered a particular specialisation in agricultural subjects. Luciano did not hesitate for a moment. The idea of attending that school in Monforte d'Alba appealed to him and so – in agreement with his father and mother – he chose that option. But the village of Monforte d'Alba was not exactly around the corner. The distance from Barolo was about ten kilometres. There were no public transport links and, besides, the family had no means of transport and not many resources either. "So, – Luciano specifies with pride – I decided to get to Monforte by bicycle: my father salvaged a couple of rather battered bikes and from two uncertain ones made one reliable one. So for two and a half years, the road between Barolo and Monforte was my training track as well as my route to and from school". The Avviamento school in Monforte d'Alba was strategically important for Luciano. There he understood how much he enjoyed agriculture and its work. He had a teacher from Alba, surnamed Bonardi, who taught agriculture and made him passionate about the subject. As his studies progressed, the themes of crop cultivation, agricultural production and work in the countryside seemed increasingly congenial to him. And in the countryside, in Barolo, there was a great deal of work among fields, meadows, rows of vines and other cultivations.