The bakery in Motta

On the advice of one of his uncles, Tranquillo buys a small bakery from the Manni family. It is located in the hamlet of Motta in the town of Costabissara and he moves there with his family. In the thirties, he passes on to his son Alessandro the passion for the art of bread-making. The boy is happy to help his father in the shop. At the age of ten, Alessandro begins making his first home deliveries on bicycle, before going to school. The war years are difficult and, during the occasional absences of his father, Alessandro helps out his mother Lucia.

The market adapts to the needs of the rural life. Days and sales are in rhythm with life out in the fields, with wake-up at dawn and deliveries running up to the hills. Fresh bread for the farmers’ breakfast and lunch, and, if one wanted to make some additional money, one had to find customers outside of town.

“I would bake bread, deliver it around town and then go to my fifth-grade class. At the age of ten or eleven, I started working with my mother, because my father was in Rijeka, fightingin the war. Then he finally came home. While he was away, I worked and went to school .” (A. Loison)