1978 - 1983

The difference between the Jura of Delémont and the Jura ruled by Bern is mainly religious, as the northern Jura is catholic and the southern Jura protestant.

My family was Italian, my father was born in 1940, my mother in 1949 and my sister in 1973. My parents worked in the industry in the nearby municipality of Bévilard.

We lived in an apartment in “Rue du Pont”, or Bridge Street, a street with a bridge on the river Birse, a small river which I heard from my room and which once gave electric power to the local industry.

I don’t remember much of my birth, but I know there were some things going on in Iran, something called a Revolution. Later on, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

I remember me playing in a corner of the living room with my toys and with the sun entering the room. I thought that the window’s Persian blinds were green, but my mother said they were blue. In fact, they were turquoise.

When I was three years old, I wanted to go to the kindergarten, as my cousin in Italy already went to it. I saw my sister studying for school, so I asked my mom to teach me to read the letters of the alphabet. I was three and a half when I started reading and writing.

The first nouns I’ve learned were the name of the water bottle, the name written on the kitchen’s steel, "Franke", and the curious names of two shops in the neighborhood, "Miele" and "Renggli".

The area where I was living was very diversified as for population, culture and religion. The valley was inhabited by Protestants and Catholics, many of the latter being Italian or Spanish immigrants, while little villages on the top of the mountain were mainly inhabited by Evangelicals.

I remember when Italy won the soccer World Cup in 1982: I didn’t understand much about soccer, but I remember hearing the Italians honking the horn in the streets in the evening to celebrate this event.

I also remember the news on television talking about a devastating war in Lebanon, so once I drew an image of a Red Cross plane bringing help to a town devastated by the war.

I was also interested in the mosaic-like patterns of the bathroom’s floor, which seemed to me living images of dogs, trains and other mystical creatures.

As I started to write the letters, I also learned the numbers. I remember being five years old and going to the kindergarten. While I was walking in the street, I began counting the powers of two.

I thought that everything should have to do with the number two and its powers, as it was so immediate and logical in my mind.

I remember that one day my mom asked me what I did or said at the kindergarten while we were walking towards home. I tried to answer her question, but I couldn’t find the words which precisely described what I wanted to say, so I answered that I didn’t remember exactly.

Before going to the kindergarten, I only spoke Italian in my family. At the kindergarten in Malleray, I learned French and so I became bilingual.