IL LAVORO E IL PRESEPIO

We visited San Potito Ultra, a small town right outside of Avellino the other morning, officially outside the region of my research, but just a short drive away. The town has just opened a new Museo del lavoro (Work Museum), spearheaded by the current mayor and University of Napoli professor Giuseppe Moricola.

The holdings come mainly from the personal collection of one Ezio De Felice, and as such it’s a little bit random (i.e., a huge collection of buttons and pocket watches next to a traditional Sicilian pushcart and carpenter’s tools). The work the museum documented was mainly artisan skilled labor, traditional crafts that are no longer practiced today.

I liked the historical focus of the museum, but what was needed was some reflection on what it means for the current San Potitesi, the 1400 or so who are left in town after years of emigration. Moricola explained to me that he and others aspire to make San Potito “un paese della cultura e della civilità del lavoro” (a town centered on the culture and society of work). What an interesting, and ambitious, idea. It would be good to see them incorporate the labor of new immigrants into its plans too.
One last note on the museum itself: juxtaposed next to the labor-related ephemera were these “dioramas” (for lack of a better word) that placed each particular labor sector into a real-life setting (a family butchering a pig, for instance, or, my favorite, a man “sewing” a broken ceramic bowl). Actually, Moricola called these each a presepe, (crèche); they were all made by a local artist, Sabatino Di Pietro, who normally makes presepi of the more conventional Christmas variety.