Oscar Baccheschi, a former communistic mayor
"The army was clever enough not to let me carry a gun"

Oscar Baccheschi takes his pleasure from people guessing his age. His stylish white hair gives away his charm and the furrows in his face tell mutinous stories. The elder communistic mayor didn't see much harm to show his left sympathies. Sometimes it is hard to believe that this man with such a rich past is only 79 years old.

“The people used to have nothing. We had to fight in order to get something”, Oscar Baccheschi remembers. ”Nowadays we only fight to obtain the things we already have. That's why Berlusconi and his Forza Italia are so popular.”

The former mayor knows what he's talking about. He had to overcome many difficulties in order to be at the point he is now. “There used to be only farmers in Torrita di Siena”, he says. “The culture was totally different. There only was a true patriarchal society.” Oscar himself was born, raised and married in one major farming family. But he only has one child. “I don't want to bring children into the world who would have the same difficult life as I had”, he declares.

Land for himself
Sharecropping in Italy existed until 1979. In the twenties the Padrone or the landowners were fascists. They exploited a lot of farmers. The circumstances weren't ideal. “Every farmer wished for a lot of land for his own”, Oscar says with a melancholic glance in his eyes. But it hasn't gone that far for him and his family. “The Padrone forced us to sell the animals at a very young age, the same with immature crops. So we had less profit. When we protested against that, all of my family was expropriated and dismissed by the police.”

The entire family Baccheschi searched for happiness elsewhere. Only Oscar stayed in Torrita to build his future. The war had just ended when he applied for a course of politics in Siena. Just by his enthusiasm he was elected and a few years later he became counsellor of public works. He never was a dull politician.

Left rebellion
The past of Oscar Bacchesschi is one of left rebellion. He demonstrated and organised picket lines. At the age of twenty three he was called up for a special unit of the army. Oscar had the far from useful task filling up holes at night that were made by bombers during training. “The army was at least clever enough not to let me carry a gun”, Oscar says with a big smile. After three days he decided he filled up enough holes. He ran away and by doing that he ignored threats like ‘to be executed'. The long way from Viterbo, a province near Rome to Torrita, he went by foot. The expedition of more than hundred kilometres took three days.

In 1948, when the PCI with Togliatti as chairman was having a lot of success, Oscar was arrested in a left demonstration. For that reason he remained 45 days in prison. “That can happen when you would act like I did“, Oscar smiles. In 1951 his political career as PCI-member started. The party had a majority with 70% of the votes. “There wasn't a stereotyped communistic voter. Working men, employees, intellectuals, they all voted communistic. Nowadays left is more diffused. Too bad”, Oscar says. “When left was united, we had more power.”


back | top

- This site was realised thanks to the co-operation between the town council and the inhabitants of Torrita di Siena and ten graduated students 2004 from the “Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen”, Belgium, department communication science, campus De Ham. - © Torrita di Siena