THE “CASERMETTE” OF ALTESSANO
Built as barracks for the Royal Aviation in 1940 and then used by the RSI army and the German, at the end of the hostilities they were occupied by homeless families who lived in precarious conditions. Around the military complex, numerous abusive dwellings were set up with evident sanitary issues, huts built partly in brick and partly in sheet metal, whose concrete floors rested directly on the earth.
A compound isolated from the rest of the country accomodated several places of business owned and managed by guests: bakeries, groceries and confectioneries, a dairy, a stationery store, a barber, a bicycle repair shop, a shoemaker and a carpenter. There are, finally, the entertainment venues: three bars (one of which was also used as a winery) and an ENAL club who later, by 1955, became an oratory used by the priest of Altessano.
In 1969, 1,400 people lived in the Casermette and in an interview the mayor of Venaria declared: “We must heal this scourge that has been dragging on since the post-war period”. On the 29th of May 1970, a historical date for Venaria, the excavators tore down the walls of the barracks of Altessano. After that the last 133 families abandoned the unhealthy areas in which they had lived for so many years. Since then in a few days the whole complex will be smoothed out and there will be no trace of the run-down buildings. In 1972 the occupants of the barracks, temporarily housed in other accommodations, will be welcomed in the new GESCAL houses.
The barracks represented a unique aspect of the life of the city of Venaria Reale. They are remembered with contradictory feelings: on the one hand as an example of mutual aid and support among the inhabitants, on the other as a critical situation in terms of health and promiscuity. (Maschio 2020, p. 305)
from http://intranet.istoreto.it/esodo/luogo.asp?id_luogo=3
Le Casermette was a largely cultivated and germinating with wheat soil in that early spring of 1941, when engineers and surveyors came to perform measurements and draw lines; and the landscapers began to dig the first ditches for the foundations. The news that for some time circulated in Altessano was confirmed. It was near the feast of St. Joseph: and that’s when I first had contact with Engineer Voglino.
The labourers came in many groups; suddenly the wide wheat fields were replaced by the construction sites, and the buildings were realized fast and through intense activity, all the more so that in late autumn the biggest ones were finished; and so it was our bell tower, which was built at the same time as that of Le Casermette. And the pavilions of the new buildings soon began to be populated with soldiers.
I’ve lived the history of Le Casermette more than anyone in Altessano. I very often found myself on the spot when it was all a rattling, eventful fervor of work, to meet the building site managers; I found myself there, when I came on a Sunday to celebrate the Mass in front of the troops and I spoke to the soldiers, deployed in the great courtyard, or in the garage shed: I sometimes found myself again between 1943 and 1945 to report some minor cases to the “Nembo” (184th italian paratroopers division) officials.
At first there were soldiers of the Royal Army: sometimes during that period Le Casermette was filled to the brim with people. Then the armistice came, and then after a moment of uncertainty the plundering began. The food stores were well stocked, and for two days the procession continued with agitated, confused and troubled people running to the store. When the easy to carry supplies ran out, people began to remove glass and windows, and tiles and beams: but fortunately the authority managed to impose itself and to stop the vandalism that threatened to bring everything to ruin.
Then in Le Casermette, after the turbulent interval of the plunder, the soldiers returned. At first it was a company of German SS: it was said they were dangerous people, but they were seldom seen around in the city and they never harmed the citizen of Altessano.
After them the Republican Air Force entered the Barracks; young folk mostly educated and honest, who did not leave a bad memory; then there were added departments of the «Nembo» that from here left for the sweeps and robberies.
Finally, after the end of the war, they began to become homes for civilians. Quite soon after the armistice some families had sought accommodation in Le Casermette. Of course it took courage to enter there, both for the danger of the bombings, and for the possibility of being forced to leave without any warning; but there were those who got in then, and I believe that some of those families have remained there ever since till today. They are those who would be entitled to the best accommodation. Now Le Casermette is highly populated. You might say they’re full. But while those who are housed in the buildings or in the offices of the pavilions are quite well settled, the others have lodgings of luck and misery.
And certainly it was not easy to divide the bedrooms. They made do with what they could: rafters and wooden sleepers and paper walls. Others occupied the rooms in their original form where heating remains the most pressing issue. There are those who have settled in the sink rooms and if there were no walls to support the sinks, they’d be the best living quarters.
However, it would be really urgent and desirable for somebody, either governmental or private, to assume the burden of maintaining Le Casermette, because neglect would soon lead to the ruin of these buildings, which are of recent and beautiful construction; and which with not much expense could become comfortable and decent housing. Furthermore they have a chance to have a little garden; and I found that some of these are kept with care and elegance.
To the inhabitants of Le Casermette I renew the greeting and welcome I gave to the church when the first families came to settle down there. I know that there is a lot of evil, and that these barracks have a bad reputation: but there are also many good families; and that more than ill will, there is a misunderstanding towards Religion; misunderstanding that finds occasion and incentive in misery. In any case, Le Casermette is not a small part of my parish; and I must love them as they are: and I carry in my soul a great desire to see them well cared in terms of material and spiritual good.
Don Mosso, 1947
Bibliography
AA. VV. 2012: AA.VV., Cerèa, Prevòst, Volume published by Pro Loco, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of Don Mosso, Printed by the Commercial Printing House – Venaria Reale, 2012.
Ballone, Racca 1998: BALLONE Adriano, RACCA Guglielmo, All’ombra dei Savoia. History of Venaria Reale, Allemandi Editore, Turin, 1998
Balma, Bertolone, Bracco, Caglio, Gallian, Rolando 1996: BALMA Anacleto, BERTOLONE Felice, BRACCO Sergio, CAGLIO Paolo, GALLIAN Gianni, ROLANDO Paolo, Altessano and the Pia Società di San Marchese, 1996.
Fricchione, Perrotta 2018: FRICCHIONE Erica, PERROTTA Elia, Specificity and identity built around a Palace: the city of Venaria Reale (17th – 21st century), Master’s Degree in Planning and Planning of the City and the Territory, Speaker Prof.ssa Lucia Carle, 2018.
Web references: Altessano barracks http://intranet.istoreto.it/esodo/luogo.asp?id_luogo=3 Chronology of the parish of San Lorenzo https://digilander.libero.it/slorenzovenaria/date.htm
Newspaper sources: LA STAMPA STAMPA SERA