Pietros Book: The Story of a Tuscan Peasant
by Pietro Pinti
Category: Biography & Autobiography

“A very interesting account of the incredibly hard life of a peasant and his family living under the mezzadria system . . . A thoroughly worthwhile book” (Italy Magazine). Growing up under Mussolini’s Fascist regime on a farm near Florence, Pietro Pinti and his family lived under conditions of extreme poverty, as sharecroppers to generally unscrupulous landowners. But during World War II, when millions in towns and cities suffered untold hardships, the hardy Tuscan peasants were well equipped to face the rigors of the era: war or no war, work on the land went on, and Pietro describes month by month a typical year in their lives: how they made wine and olive oil, planted and harvested the wheat by hand, made baskets and ladders from chestnut wood-skills now lost. With sly wit and salty wisdom, Pietro—a natural storyteller who played the trumpet, wrote poetry, and grew famous for his tales of peasants, knights, and brigands—recreates in colorful detail a world and peasant culture that is fast disappearing. Jenny Bawtree, an Englishwoman long settled in Tuscany, was so fascinated by Pietro's stories that she helped shape them into this autobiography, full of color and humor, hardship and nostalgia. “This small, cherishable book is as close to living history as one gets . . . The heart of the book, though, is Pinti’s month-by-month description of how it was to live . . . The stories are full of humanity and sly wisdom.” —Booklist “Black and white photos, maps and illustrations, plus a glossary of Italian terms that were relevant to the life of a peasant render a more thorough understanding of a compelling life that is neither glamorous nor romanticized.” —Publishers Weekly