Roberto Sperotto - A Passion for History

The Vicenza-Schio railway line completes 150 years in 2026. It was built in 1876 to facilitate transport of cargo from numerous wool mills of Schio. During early 1900s, this railway line had different extensions including to Pieve Bel Vicino, Piovene Rocchette, Arsiero and Asiago.

To celebrate this 150th anniversary, recently an exhibition was organised in Schio, which presented the historical collection of documents and photographs of Roberto Sperotto.

 

I had an opportunity to talk to Roberto to about his passion for the history of this region around late 1800s and early 1900s, especially related to the period of the first world war.

This post is about Roberto Sperotto and his passion for history.

Alto Vicentino and the World War One

The area around Vicenza is known as Vicentino. The north-west part of Vicentino has the Alps, specifically the Little Dolomites and is known as Alto Vicentino (High Vicentino) because of its higher altitude.

 

Till early 1900s, the Alps mountains of Alto Vicentino marked the border between the Austro-Hungarian empire and Italy. This border was the site of different battles during World War One.

For example, you can check my posts on the War Cemeteries of Alto Vicentino and on the Centenary of Pasubio War Memorial.

Talking to Roberto Sperotto

Roberto was born and lives in Breganze, some kms to the west of Schio, an area known for its beautiful rolling hills and vineyards. He runs an agency in Breganze for driving licences and their renewals.

Roberto's key interest has been in the crucial role, engineering skill, and heroic contributions of the Italian military engineering corps (Arma del Genio) during World War I, and he has been collecting documents and photographs about it in Alto Vicentino. His collection about the local railway lines is part of WWI collection, as the railways had played a big role in the war. 

 

About his archival collection about history of Alto Vicentino around the first World War, Roberto explained, "There was an old house in the periphery of Rocchette, and I discovered that it was one of the buildings of the Rocchette-Asiago railway line. I started reading about the old railway lines and gradually collected different documents and photographs to have a global view of these railway lines and its different aspects, in relation to the world war."

Initially all these railway lines to Schio and its extensions belonged to a private society, "Società Veneta", and were nationalised in 1906. Alessandro Rossi, well-known industrialist of Schio running different wool-mills in this area, played a key role in their construction.

Initially the railway lines were built in narrow gauge because they were near the border with the Austro-Hungarian empire and they felt that these could be used to attack them. Thus, the main Italian railway with its broad gauge could not be used to bring munitions and heavy machinery to the border.

Roberto took me around the exhibition, sharing anecdotes about how he had managed to collect different pictures and documents, how specific parts of the railway lines were built, how the railway lines were used during the war. For example, he explained that the Austrian troops were on a higher level and thus, the Italian army thought that they could have poisoned the water of the torrents coming down and thus, preferred to carry water up the railway line to Asiago.

Roberto's Archives in His Books 

Roberto has a big archive of documents & photographs about this region and has written 3 books about the history of Alto Vicentino during World War I - 

(1) 1915-1918 War Railway Lines in Vicentino (1915-1918 - Ferrovie di Guerra Nel Vicentino) - written with Francesco Brazzale, published by Edizioni Grafiche Leoni, 2014: The book starts with the difficulties caused by limited railway lines in this part of Italy when the war between Austria and Italy was declared in May 2015. A couple of images about the railway line in Schio from this book are presented below.  

(2) The War Villas - 6th Armed Division & Military Engineering Corps (Ville di Guerra - La 6a Armata e il Genio), published by Edizioni Grafiche Leoni, 2018: This book looks at the villas located along the old Gasparona road connecting Thiene to Marostica and their role in the World War One, and how these were taken over by the military commands during the war. This book focuses especially on the 6th Army which included Italian, French, British and Czechoslovakian troops. 

(3) The Ferrarin Cousins - Men and Pilots (I Cugini Ferrarin - Uomini e Piloti), written with Roberto Mantiero, published by Grafiche Leoni sas, 2020: This book shares documents and pictures of Italian air-force pilots during the WWI, especially Francesco Ferrarin & Arturo Ferrarin, along with others like Leonello Marani, Girolamo Allegri,  Luigi Bourlot. The book also touches on the role of the well-known Italian writer, poet and Journalist, Gabriele d'Annunzio in the war.

Historical Images of Schio from the Book by Roberto Sperotto

Roberto's books are a rich source of historical images and documents from that period. As an example, two images from Sperotto's book "1915-1918 - Ferrovie di Guerra Nel Vicentino" are presented below, which are about the railway station of Schio.

(1) The first is an illustration about the visit of Prince Umberto in Schio for the inauguration of the Vicenza-Schio railway line in 1876. (click on the image for a bigger view)

 

(2) The second is an image of families leaving Schio as the first world war broke out in the nearby Pasubio mountains in Spring 1916.

World War One - A British Postcard

The next two images from the Roberto Sperotto's collection are of a picture-postcard of the Schio railway station sent home to one "Mrs Arnold" by an English soldier, dated 12 Nov 1918 by the war field office, on which the military sensor had cancelled the word "Schio", so that the location is not revealed. (Click on the images for a bigger view)

 

This same image was also used on the poster for the exhibition held in Schio for the 150th anniversary of the Vicenza-Schio railway line. 
 

In Conclusion

Roberto shows that persons moved by their passions can be an invaluable resource for collecting and safeguarding the micro-histories of small places, that are usually ignored by official historians and record-keepers working at international, national and regional levels.  

For the persons of Alto Vicentino, Roberto's photographic and documental archives are a wonderful resource about a crucial period of their local history.  

 *****

Schio - Yesterday & Today

The inspiration for this post came from a guided tour of the city centre held on 10 May 2026, in which Chiara from Cooperativa Trama spoke about some forgotten stories of places, people and events from the centre of Schio during the past few centuries.

During this visit, I learned about the printing press of Paolo Marzari, located near the railway station, who had become famous for his picture postcards, sold all over Italy, in late 19th and early 20th century. This was a period of big changes in Schio, especially due to the development of wool factories of local industrialist, Alessandro Rossi. For example, the railways connecting Schio to Vicenza was built around 1876 and inaugurated by Prince Umberto. The road in front of the railway station leading to the central Piazza Rossi was built some years later.

During the 1980s, the municipality of Schio published a book (Schio: Immagini del Primo '900,  Dall'Archio Fotografico P. Marzari, 1982) about the photographic archives of Marzari. For this post I have taken some of the images from this book and compared them with how those places look today.

Photographs Used for This Post

All the black and white images used in this post are from the above-mentioned book about the photographic archives of Paolo Marzari. (click on the images for a bigger view)

All the colour photographs next to each B/W image are mine. The main reasons why it was not possible to take my images from the same exact place from where the B/W pictures were clicked - some old buildings are no more and many new buildings and trees are in their place.

At the Castello

I have selected 2 images from the Castello hill of Schio - first is the high school built there in early 20th century which now hosts the Liceo delle Science Umane (Human Sciences high school). The passage shown in the B/W image is now closed with an iron grill surrounding the school. (click on the images for a bigger view)

 

The second image is at top of the hill with its clock tower and the Santa Maria della Neve church (St Mary of the Snows church) and the old big Tiglio (Lime) tree, which was removed in early 1900s. There were two big trees and because of them, this area was called Tajara in the local dialect. There were few trees at that time, which were planed mainly after the second world war and now make this hill very beautiful due to the autumn leaves.  

Santa Maria della Salute Chapel

This 15th century chapel was located along the path which came down from the Castello hill and was separated by walls as it passed the Brolo (fields) of Count Da Schio, and went towards the old TB hospital and St. Francis church. Underneath the chapel is the Gaminella water-spring that led to a small pond.

 

Today the walls around the Chapel are gone, a lot more trees are there and only the initial part of Gaminella water-spring is visible close to the chapel, the rest of the spring water lies underneath Via Gaminella in front of the chapel.

Around Duomo church and Piazza Rossi 

Duomo church from 15th century and the square in front of it, Piazza Rossi, are the centre of Schio. It used to a closed square with two exits - the road going to the west, called Corobbo (today Via Carducci) and the road going towards the town and Castello (today Piazza Garibaldi). The next image shows road in front of Piazza Rossi going towards Corobbo, in which Via Capitano Sella was opened.

The next image shows Via Cavour, running next to the Duomo church, which has changed very little.

 

The image below has Via Garibaldi seen from the Garibaldi square.

 

The next image has a view of Via Battaglione Leogra and Piazza IV Novembre, with its monument to the Pasini brothers. This road was built in 1900 and connected Piazza Rossi with the railway station and was first called Via Umberto, to remember the inauguration of the railway station by prince Umberto.

It used to have a Covered Market (Mercato Coperto), now replaced by a bank. There used to be an ice-vendor behind the market (Giassaia in local dialect) now remembered in the name of Via Giasara behind the bank.

The next image has Via Battiglione Leogra (this name was given after the second world war) showing the Pasubio printing press, which is no longer there. On the right, the images show the entrance to Piazza Statuto, which hosts the municipal offices of Schio.

 

The next image has Piazza Statuto with Palazzo Garbin which hosts the Municipal offices of local government in Schio.

 

The last image from this part of the city is Casa dei Canarini (the house of the colourful birds) on Via Mazzini, further along the Via Carducci, with frescoes of guards wearing colourful costumes. People believe that this house hosted the centre of city guards, but no evidence has been found for it.

 

The Railway Station and the Roads Around it

The railway station was inaugurated 150 years ago in 1876. It had big freight port for the wool industries of Schio, which now hosts a clothes shop. However the railway station itself has changed very little, except for the buildings behind it and the number of cars in front of it. 

The road in front of the railway station, Via Baccarini, going towards Sant'Antonio church has changed completely and the church is hardly visible from this point, hidden behind the buildings.

 

As we walk from the railway station towards Sant'Antonio, the crossing where Via Baccarini meets Via Maraschin has a roundabout with a monument to Alessandro Rossi. The B/W image below shows the inauguration of this monument made by Giulio Monteverde in 1902, the colour picture next to it has the inauguration of the renovated monument with the mayor Walter Orsi and some members of the Rossi family, on 29 June 2018.

  

Behind the Rossi monument and opposite Sant'Antonio church is a square called Donatori di Sangue (Blood donaters). The next image shows this square and the St. Antonio church.

 

A little further down the road is the Civic Theatre built in 1907-08. It was closed down during the first world war and then during the second world war, but has been renovated a few years ago.

 

Around the Leogra Bridge

First it was a wooden bridge built in 1742, the stone bridge was made in 1852 and it was reinforced and enlarged in 1926. It connected the 2 communes - Schio and Magre, which were combined together under Schio, 2 years later in 1928. Just after the bridge, on the Magre side of Leogra was a Tiro a Segno (shooting range), whose building can be seen from the Schio side in the image below.

 

The shooting range building can be seen from the Magre side in the image below. It now has some monuments to the Italian marines who died in the wars, a big parking and a popular open air bar called Molo 517 that is open in the summers.

 

The third image from this area shows Via Riva di Magre, the road that goes up towards the central areas of Magre.

 

Carrozzeria Luigi dalla Via

The Dalla Via workshop was located beyond the cemetery area of Schio. Started in 1905, it was one of the biggest Italian constructors of the external bodies vans, buses and trucks, but especially of buses. It closed in 2007. The image below shows the workshop area.

Via Baratto

The last image of this post is of Via Baratto taken from the roundabout of Via Rompato, and going towards St Francis church. Even this area has not changed much though because of a busy car parking, I was unable to include the gate on the right side in my image.

 

In The End

Let me conclude this post with the cover of the book from which all the B/W images of the Paolo Marzari's photographic archives have been taken.

I had a lot of fun, going around and trying to get the same or similar views as in the original pictures. Most of the time, it was impossible to get the same view but I feel that these pictures do show that the places are same.

If you live in Schio or are visiting here, I hope that these images help you to get an idea of the changing histories of our urban landscapes.

 

***** 

 

A Century of Pasubio War Memorial

The bones-cemetery (Ossario) of the war at the Pasubio mountain near Schio (VI) completes a century this year. Among the different events organised for this anniversary is an exhibition organised at Toaldi-Capra villa in Schio's city centre in June 2026.

The Ossario is about 22 kms from our home and yet it is visible from our terrace, a tiny finger raised up towards the sky at the point where two mountains meet on the horizon. Often, in the morning, when we wake up, we take a look at it to check the day's weather - if it is well visible, or if there is fog denoting humidity or if there are clouds. Thus, it is a kind of personal landmark for us, almost like a family monument.

Let me start this post with a brief background to the battles fought here about a hundred years ago.

First World War in the Pasubio Mountains

Italy joined the first world war in May 1915. Before that, over the past few centuries, this part of Italy known as Alto Vicentino and characterised by Dolomite mountains, had been controlled alternately between the Romans, Vatican (and Austrian-Hungarian empire supporting the Pope) and the Republic of Venice.

When the first world war broke out, the areas north-east to Schio were under Austrian-Hungarian empire, the site where the bones-cemetery was built was also the boundary between Italy and Austria. The Austrian-Hungarian empire lost that war, and the border between Italy and Austria was pushed up to about 175 kms to the north-east.

There were two main sites of battles in this area - Pasubio mountain and the high-plains of Asiago. About a 100,000 soldiers fought at Pasubio and around 10% of them died.

A significant aspect of this war was the building of tunnels inside the mountains, where army officers' offices, ammunition-dumps and hospitals were created. Old mule-tracks were revitalised and new paths were built in the mountains by the soldiers. One famous mountain path, going up along Pasubio had 52 tunnels, all built by soldiers with their own hands and the help of mules.

Construction of the Bones-Cemetery War Memorial

Apart from the war injuries, people also died due to land-slides and extreme cold, especially in winter 1917. Many battles took place in high mountains and narrow mountain passes, difficult to reach. Some bodies were identified and given a burial, but many were not and bodies of the soldiers from the two sides were left in the mountains or buried where ever they were found.

The first idea of creating a war memorial to remember those dead came up in 1917, while the war was going on, when some soldiers asked the bishop of Vicenza for a Madonna statue to be placed inside one of the tunnels. While the Madonna statue was provided, the bishop Ferdinando Rodolfi also started a fund-collection campaign to build a proper monument for the dead. A committee was created for this purpose, at the end of the war, on 3 November 1918.

Architect Ferruccio Chemello, who had designed the civic theatre of Schio was given this responsibility of designing the monument and a hill known as Bella Vista at an altitude of 1265 metres, at the base of Pasubio mountain was chosen for it (the image above shows some of his designs from the exhibition held in Schio in June 2026). The construction started on 1 July 1920 and it was completed around the end of 1925 and the beginning of 1926.

War Memorial and Bones-Cemetery

The memorial has a 35 metres high quadrangular tower in Romana-Bizantine style, with a massive underground basement used as a cemetery for the bones of about five thousand Italian and Austrian soldiers, some of them have names, others are anonymous.

There is chapel at the base, as one enters the tower, with a Madonna statue by sculptor Giuseppe Zanetti. A staircase goes up to four storeys while all around the walls have frescoes and painted glass-windows with a mix of war and religion related images by the artist Tito Chini (images below).

The whole war memorial area is considered as a sacred area and includes a war museum managed by 3 November Foundation near the parking area (image below).

Near-by Places to Visit

A walking road next to the Pasubio War Memorial takes you to a hanging bridge, also known as Tibetan Bridge, which is decorated with Buddhist flags, with beautiful views of the valley below.

Going further along the walking path after the Tibetan bridge one can reach Campo Grosso, known for its spectacular views of the Dolomite mountains.

Walking in the opposite direction towards the Pian delle Fugazze (Fugazze mountain pass) takes you to a popular resting point with the Pasubio bar-restaurant and places like Campo Silvano, Vall'Arsa and Rovereto. I especially love the charming village of Campo Silvano for its spectacular views, an antelope sanctuary and views of a water-reservoir in Vall'Arsa below.

In the End

We try to take all our guests to see the War Memorial because it is a good way to understand local history and for its beautiful views.

One evening at the Pasubio memorial, many years ago, is etched in my memory because of the wonderful colours of the setting sun on the snow-covered mountains with a full moon behind the memorial, as you can see from the image below.

 If this subject interests you, you also might like to read some of my other posts about other war memorials - War Cemeteries of Vicentino; and Remembering Soldiers - War Memorials from Around the World. 

***** 

St. Francis Church in Schio

St. Francis church is one of the older churches of the city. If you are visiting Schio, it is worth visiting it for its history and for the art-works. It is easy to visit, since it near the city centre. The only problem is that it is open for public only on the afternoon of the first Sunday of the month. In the image below, the bell-tower of the church can be seen on the left. (click on images for a bigger view). 

 An asymmetrical building surrounded by green hills, this church from 1424 CE is famous for a beautiful altar piece dedicated to St Catherine, painted by Francesco Verla. However, there is many other things to see in it.

This post is about the history and things to see in St Francis church. Let me start with a little bit of history. 

Historical Overview of St Francis Church 

St Francis church is located at the edge of a hilly forest area of Schio, known as Valletta. The hillocks around the church were originally known as "Monte degli Oliveti" (the Olive trees' Hill), because this area used to have many olive trees.

This area was known for its "lazzaretto", a place for housing the sick and homeless poor. The word "lazzaretto" is related to leprosy and perhaps in the past there were some leprosy affected persons there. However, over the years, such places were often used for keeping sick persons including those with plague and other illnesses such as tuberculosis and mental illness. 

Itinerant Franciscan friars arriving in Schio had built a chapel dedicated to Madonna on the Monte degli Oliveti in 1424. The sandstone statue of Madonna, installed in that first chapel can still be seen inside the church. Twenty years later, in 1446, the Bishop of Vicenza consecrated that chapel, and the event was marked by a plaque, which can still be seen on the wall near the entrance.

The church expanded quickly. By the end of 1400s, a Franciscan monastery was already active next to the church. The church-building had also been expanded and had a central and a lateral naves. Since, the other side of the central nave was already occupied by the monastery, and space on the hillock was limited, the church ended up as an asymmetrical building. A hundred years after the first chapel, by 1520 CE, the church as it looks today, was ready.

Important Artworks in St Francis

St Francis church has many things to see, among which the most important are: 

A Corberelli Altar with Inlaid Stones: The first Chapel in the lateral nave has a beautiful altar (left) made by the master stone artists of the Corberelli family from 17th century. The Corberelli (o Corbarelli) were from Tuscany and were specialised in making inlaid stone artworks.

The altar has an announcing angel on the left and a slightly ruined mosaic of Madonna on the right. The central part has 2 corberelli birds, identified by the pink spot on their breasts, as the legend says that the bird had hurt itself while trying to remove a spine from crucified Jesus' head. The inlaid stone work is very beautiful, made of stones in vivid colours, it looks like a painting.

There is another Corberelli altar in Schio in the San Giacomo church near Duomo, and another, better known one, in Santa Corona church in Vicenza.  

Altar Painting by Francesco Verla: This luminous painting about the spiritual wedding of St Catherine from 1512 CE is in chapel 3 of the lateral nave (right). It is the most famous art-work of this church.

Giorgio Vasari, the renaissance period art-historian, who wrote Le Vite in 1550 about the biographies of well-known artists of his time, called him as Francesco Veruzio, who was from nearby town of Villa Verla ("verla" literally means 'cherries'). His painting style was influenced by Pinturicchio and, especially, Perugino, with whom he had spent some time.

The Pala (artwork for the altar) is composed of a semi-circular top part, a narrow top panel and the main painting, a bottom narrow panel, and a frame. The figures, the composition, the use of light, and especially the figure of God as a man with long beard in the top part of the painting, reminds us of some of the famous works of Pietro Perugino. The "Putti", the baby angels in the top narrow panel are seen as typical figures painted by Verla - they seem like the many baby angels painted by Donatello. The bottom panel, showing the life of St Catherine, seems to show a hill with the castle of Schio, which was demolished a hundred years earlier. (The bottom panel of the altar piece, below - Schio's castle is a little to the left of the centre - click on the image for a bigger view)

The cult of St Catherine has older roots in this area, as shown by the St Catherine church and village on the Summano mountain, that looms over Schio. 

The painting was commissioned by one Mr Giovanni who was married to a woman named Lucia - both of them are represented in the painting as St Lucy on the left and St John Baptist on the right. Behind them are St. Agatha and St Joseph. There is a baby holding on to the leg of St Joseph, whose reference to this painting is not clear. The central figures are Madonna, baby Jesus and St Catherine covered with a rich golden and red brocade.

Verla had also done the frescoes decorating the top parts of the church walls, so do not forget to look up while visiting the church.  

Madonna statue: Chapel 4 in the lateral nave hosts the original Madonna statue from early 15th century - it is made with sandstone from Vicenza. The name of its sculptor has been lost. It has a renaissance like look and is beautiful. Later on it was painted in bright colours, which make it look like a wooden statue.  

Recently, a space was discovered in front of this statue, which held a curtain, which could be opened and closed with a lever. The curtain has a painting with a lever for pulling up a curtain, which was used for covering the statue during some rites and then removing it to show the Madonna. The painted curtain will be kept in the forthcoming Schio museum, which is supposed to open this year (2026).

A Francesco Maffei (1605-1660) Painting Above the Main Altar: This painting is from 1640s and has Madonna with the baby, along with St Francis, St Anthony of Padua,
Bernardino of Sienna and Ludvic of Tolosa. It is more gothic, Madonna seems as a two dimensional figure and not so expressive. 

The hidden Chapel: There is another Chapel (right) with an old San Bernanardino altar, which is now hidden after cloister 2 in a side wall. It was shifted in the past during some restructuring. On the wall near the old altar, there are a couple of coat-of-arms from notable Schio families, including that from the Toaldi family (it has a tree and a dog).

Tombs Inside St Francis 

Since early times, rich persons could ask to be buried inside the church by paying money. Having a tomb inside the church increased families' social status. During the Napoleonic period, many tombs were removed but even today, the cost-of-arms of some important local families can still be seen inside, especially in front of the altars.

For example, in front of the main altar, you can see the De Schio family-tomb with their symbol (left), a two tailed siren; the Marostica family tomb has a cherry tree on it, while Fantinelli family tomb has a baby.

There is a lot of pink sandstone used for the tombs - these rocks were at the bottom of the sea and which rose up when the African tectonic plaque hit Europe, creating Alps and pre-alps.

The Beautiful Chorus Room 

The ligneo (wooden) chorus room is behind the main altar. It is also from early 1500. It was carved wood seats on two levels for the monks. In the centre, it has a big leggio, used for keeping the hymn book.  The leggio can be rotated and has a compartment for keeping the books. A handcrafted and painted codice miniato manuscript was found here which is now kept in the civic library of Schio, not very far from the church.

There are 2 paintings in the chorus room, both are by Francesco Maffei from 17th century (the painting on the back wall has a family connection for me - it carries a plaque with a dedication to "Lino Raddino", my wife's brother-in-law). 

Fossils in the stones near the church 

The geological history of Schio's hills show that in the past, 20-40 million years ago, they were at the bottom of the sea and the movement of the tectonic plates of the earth's crust, had brought them up. The local sand-stones and rocks used in the walls outside the church has many fossils, which testify this geological history.

Guided Tours in St Francis 

You can always visit the church area from the outside, but to visit inside the church, you need to come to Schio on the afternoon of the first Sunday of the month - the church is open to public only on that day, from 3 to 6 PM. On that day, there is usually a guided tour around 4 PM. 

I have been to numerous guided tours to St Francis church and had been promising myself to write a post about it for many years. The last image below, shows the monument to St Bakhita outside St Francis church.

Every guided tour brings out some new aspect about this church. For example, during the last tour, we visited the side-room connected to the chorus room and saw some of the paintings of the Popes in this room that I had not seen before.

In the End

Most people visiting Italy can see the famous cities, such as Rome, Florence and Venice. People who have a passion for history, visit slightly less famous cities like Verona, Bologna, Naples and Padua. To be aware about the histories and treasures of small towns like Schio, is not possible for casual visitors and Italy has hundreds of such places.

So if you are visiting Schio, try to discover as much of its history as possible - visiting St Francis church and its environs can an important part of this discovery!

*** 

History Seen Through Trees & Gardens

History is usually seen through big events like the lives of kings & queens, wars, building castles & forts. The lives of ordinary people are usually missing from the history books, though sometimes we can get glimpses of that, like the recent discovery of graffiti in some Egyptian monuments.

However, we can also look at the history through its trees and gardens. Recently I had such an experience when the Cooperativa TRAMA (Traditions, Resources, Ambience, Museums & Art) organised a special city-walk in Schio (VI) focusing on its trees, forests and gardens. 

 

Origins of Schio & an Historical Overview

Our city walk started in Piazza Rossi, in front of the Duomo church in the city-centre.

The Duomo church is located on a hillock known as "colle del Garzone". First mention of Schio in the documents is from around 990 CE, when the bishop of Vicenza allotted some land for agriculture. Around 1000, there was already a small chapel to San Petri at the top of this hill, surrounded by the oak trees. 

 

Around the first millennium, the area around Schio was subdivided between a noble family and the church, and there were rivalries between the two.

The noble family was called Malatraversi, who were faithful to the emperor, and they were prominent for about 300 years, from around 1000 CE to 1300 CE. They controlled the area on the north-east side of Leogra torrent - Schio, Piane, Sant'Orso. They had built a defensive fort (il Castello) on the Castello hill, not far from the Garzone hillock, which included two concentric walls, as shown in the famous painting by Francesco Verla in the St Francis church in Schio, a couple of centuries later.

The church responded to the Pope and controlled the area on the south-west of the Leogra torrent - Pieve, Magre, Malo. The first mother church, where the bishop stayed, was built in Pieve. However the floods of the Leogra torrent created problems and the Bishop had to take refuge on the Garzone hillock. To control the floods, the Roggia Maestra water-canal was built, which took and diverted the excess water to the farm-houses around the area. This canal passes next to the old mother church in Pieve. The building of this canal also stimulated the development of different economic activities, such as carpenters, saw-mills, flour-mills, etc. 

In 1300s, as the Malatraversi family declined, first the Nogarola family from Verona, and then the Visconti of Milano became more influential in Schio. Around the end of 1300s, Schio became a part of the Republic of Venice, also known as La Serenissima. Venice placed Schio under the jurisdiction of Vicenza.

Schio was unhappy to be under Vicenza, because the two had competing interests.  In 1412, Vicenza dismantled the castello-fort of Schio and its stones were used for other houses and buildings. A competing interest between the was the weaving of refined clothe (panni alti), as both cities wanted to produce it and Vicenza did not give permission to Schio for it (only in 1701, Schio was allowed to make "panni alti" clothes).

In 1797, the republic of Venice was defeated by Napoleon Bonaparte. Under Napoleon, the monasteries and churches were closed, some of their artworks and valuables were hidden, the others were taken away his troops. In 1814, the area of Schio became a part of Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1866, a treaty between Veneto and Austria, finally brought the whole region under the Italian kingdom.

Schio Seen Through the Histories of its Trees and Gardens  

The Oak Forest: Before the city of Schio became an urban centre, there was an oak forest in the Duomo area, which gave the city its name, as such forests were called "schleda" in the local language. That led to its Latin name "Scledum" in the Roman period. Archaeological remains of a Roman garrison have been found near the area which now hosts the Campo Romano mall.

No traces remain today of that oak forest and the constructions of Duomo church completely cover the Garzone hill. However, from the Garzone road, which passes along Duomo, little bits of the grassy hill are still visible.

The Lime Trees of Castello: The hill which hosted the castello-fort of Schio is much bigger, extending back to the Capuchin monastery. The part of the hill where the remains of the old fort are still visible, was known as "Tajara" in the local dialect because it hosted two huge and old Tiglio trees (Lime or Linden tree). These were removed in early 1900s because they were in danger of falling down. The area also included a hundred years old Platano (Plane tree), which was planted in 1912.

To remember them, rows of Lime trees were planted in that area. 

 

Horse-Chestnut trees on the Castello Hill: A row of Ippocastano (Horse-Chestnut trees) was planted along the side of the Castello Hill in 1850. These trees were brought to Italy from Turkey in the 1500s. Their chestnuts are used for making a medicine used in the horses, which gave these trees their name. The popular belief says that keeping a couple of these chestnuts in your pocket will prevent catching common cold.

Exotic Trees of Jaquard gardens: These gardens were built in 1859 opposite the Rossi Wool mills near Schio's centre, by the industrialist Alessandro Rossi. At a time when mill-workers were mostly illiterate, included many children and international travel was restricted to a few persons, these gardens brought the world to Schio. They include a theatre with busts of famous persons of Schio, caves, sculptures of wild animals like crocodilian and panther, and a hanging garden.

The garden was designed by Antonio Caregaro Negrin and included a sun-room for orchids and different tropical trees such as palm and banana trees. Among the trees of this garden, there are - a Mexican Cypress (also called Portuguese Cypress), 3 giant sequioia and a Yew tree to celebrate Italy's flag (it has green leaves, white flowers and red berries - the colours of the Italian flag). It also has many Japanese plants.

 

Personal & Family Memories of Trees

So many of our memories and personal histories are linked with plants and trees. For example, in our old style double-storey house in New Rajendra Nagar in Delhi, we had an oleander tree which used to be full of pink flowers. Two years ago, when I went to visit that house with my sister, and found that a new and bigger house had been built there. I felt sad because I could not see the old oleander tree. 

In our home in Schio, we have a couple of Laurel trees. I can see that same tree in some of the old family pictures, as my wife's family has been living in this house for more than 125 years. About 15 years ago, we had tried cutting them down but were unable to remove the vast network of their roots, and from those roots, two new plants came out (in the image below).

At the corner of the street, where we live, there was a huge old tree. I remember my mother-in-law telling me about it more than forty years ago - she had said that her husband was a child when that tree had been planted. Last year, when that tree was cut down because it was in danger of falling, I felt that a part of our family history had gone with it.

My wife often talks of the Ficus tree in our backyard, where she used to climb as a child. At that time, there were no walls between the backyards of the houses and families could see and talk with neighbours, while sitting in their backyard gardens. Today most of these backyards have concrete floors and high walls.

An old picture from 1950s, of a friend's house in our street, shows a tree, an old washing place and a car. When I shared this picture on Instagram, a man wrote to say that it was his father's car.

Conclusions

Once I started thinking about my memories related to plants and trees, there were so many of them that I was surprised. For example, I have many memories about my grandfather's farmhouse, parts of which lies underneath the "Dwarka Mod" metro station in Delhi. Another memory was of the different Tulsi plants that we had in different homes where we lived. For every city where I have lived, I can remember those days through some trees and plants.

To my readers, trying remembering your own memories about plants and trees - I think that you will find it a rewarding exercise.

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