Friends Reunited

In 1961 three men in an auto – Gianni, Alfonso, and me – left Arcisate, the town in which I resided since the age pf 10, and lost touch with most friends, many of whom had been schoolmates,

Even though I went in search of pastures new, I never forgot my previous habitat and I tried to keep abreast of what was going on in that neck of the woods through the press or social media.

During my research, I gathered many interesting information on events and people of Arcisate, past and current.

The most recorded claim to fame of this municipality in the province of Varese which dates back to Roman times, is the silver hoard discovered in 1900, the so-called Arcisate Treasure, now housed in the British Museum.

This town which I felt to be anassuming rose in my estimation when I found out that it was the birthplace of Cesarina Monti, a scientist born in 1871 who was the first woman to obtain a university chair in the Kingdom of Italy.

Another born in Arcisate was Emilio Portaluppi, a stonemason who was a Titanic survivor. He had emigrated to New Hampshire and was returning home after a visit to Italy.

I wondered how many more local notables had been consigned to the annals of history.

Another important development was the construction of a new branch of the railway line, from Aecisate to  Stabio, connecting Italy and Switzerland from Varese to Mendrisio.

Reading all this plus learning that original frescoes had been found in Villa Teresa, where I stayed before 1961, brought me back to my youth.

The building had been in a state of disrepair after the last tenants left and remained closed for many years before the municipal authorities acquired it. Restoration was taking place to accommodate a public library and council offices.

I was overjoyed when the opportunity to see the town's transformations arose.

Alfonso, who had gone to Thailand to open an Italian restaurant over there, wrote to me last year saying that he was going to come to Italy at the beginning of June which happened to coincide with the time I would be in Como, visiting my sister.

He had organised a reunion of surviving friends, of whom there were still a good few.

I travelled on the new branch line from Como to Mendrisio to Arcisate and alighted at the station whose platforms in my days used to be at street level but are now below.

I was met by my friend Vittorio who was fit enough to climb the stairs while I chose to use the lift. He seemed pleased to see me and told me that Alfonso was waiting outside.

The three of us proceeded to the nearby Bar Stazione where a dozen of my peers were waiting in the side garden. They all cheered as we arrived.

I recognised some of them at once; Carluccio, Giambattista, Pietro, Silvio, Renzo, and the oldest among them, Nicolino aged 92. Others were not so easily recognisable and I hoped I would remember them when we started reminiscing.

In the course of conversions, I found out that a couple of them had belonged to the Corpo Musicale in their youth and this brought to mind the time when we were fifteen or sixteen and someone, although I could not recall who had suggested we formed a pop group.

Not having any musical knowledge nor being able to play an instrument, I did not put forward my candidature but plenty did.

Apparently, there was no problem about the vocalist. I believe it was Carluccio's parents who knew a home-grown female talent named Rosalina Neri and he thought he could persuade her to join the band.

She was some seven or eight years older than us and had a lovely soprano voice which many predicted would lead her to stardom.

The snag was that we dithered so long with this idea that by the time we were ready to implement the plan, she had been noticed by a television station, offered a role in a TV programme and that was the beginning of her career as an actress and a singer.

She had a slight resemblance to Marylyn Monroe and by dyeing her hair blond she became the Italian equivalent of the American bombshell.

I never met her but because of her association with Arcisate, she became our icon.

While we were drinking and reliving our youth in the Bar Stazione. we were unaware that she had died in Milan on the 5 June 2024, aged 96.

 
© Luigi Pagano 2025