Home | Valente and DiRenzo Family History - From Our Correspondent in Geneva (Angelo Abiuso)
Market Day in Gambatesa
This is one of the last old ladies in black (i.e. in traditional mourning dress) in Gambatesa. (The white trucks brought things for sale to the market day in Largo della Madonna.)
Woman in Mourning Dress
There used to be very strict rules in the past for the number of years someone was to mourn (and dress in black as a sign of this). For a parent it was 3 years; for a spouse: the rest of your life (usually widows did not get married again); for a brother or sister: 1-1/2 or 2 years; for a child 3 or 4 years. But now those customs belong to the past, and even very elderly women in Gambatesa no longer observe those rules; the woman in the photograph is the rare exception.