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Hi Scott
I'm taking a stab at this letter since no one else here is. I hope what I understand is accurate.
I don’t know who the writer of this letter is, as only the first page is here, and the signature must be on a subsequent page.
The person is writing to a beloved friend to tell him about the death of his brother-ln-law, Francesco Papa, which occurred on June 26th, 1929 at 8. It seems that the deceased had suffered with an anguishing illness for some long 7 months, which then consumed his entire body, but the doctors had led the family astray (or given them false hope) concerning there being a cure for this illness. The deceased had ultimately developed dropsy (some kind of edema or swelling), possibly from a condition like congestive heart failure, although the writer doesn’t mention the specific condition which led to the edema. He uses the word l’ettesia, but I can’t find what the word means in English, although I think the spelling should only have one “t” in it.
The next paragraph though jumps to a different subject. It seems the letter writer received a (discounted?) promissory note for money to be paid within the coming month of August, for grain that will be sold, although the price is lower than what is expected for the quantity of grain being gathered/harvested in 1929.
The last line reads that "In the letter he found two (I can't decipher the next word, which is the word with which this page ends).
Hi Scott and Erudita,
just want to say that I don't read anything about doctors leading the family astray. The writer just says they spent a lot of money to find a cure.
I don't know what "ettesia" can be...I'll have to stay in Italy some more centuries to find it out
The last words might be "due scudi" meaning some coins. "Scudo" was an ancient coin, but the word is still in use in several dialects, meaning some multiple by 5 of the unit of measure. For instance, in Roma young people say "uno scudo" to say 5 euros, and in my old good times "uno scudo" was 5,000 lire. So, maybe the writer meant two 5 liras coins. Also, we don't know what letter he is talking about.
Giuseppe "Pippo" Moccaldi
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From 12th October 1946, the national anthem of Italy has been the "Canto degli Italiani" (Chant of the Italians), written in the Autumn of 1847 by a Genoese student and patriot Goffredo Mameli, and set to music in Turin by another Genoese, Michele Novaro. Born during an atmosphere of patriotic fervo...
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