Life History

Notes

• Prospero, was the third born son of Luigi Maria Marchesi and of Maria Dorizzi, known as "La Vapurin - the Spitfire." It soon become apparent that he was very good with his hands, and rather than pursue other skills, he followed in his father's footsteps and became a blacksmith and farrier. Unlike his two elder siblings Erminio and Giuseppe, he spent all his life in Poschiavo at Cimavilla.
  
  His marriage to Marina Maranta was solemnised at San Vittore Church in Poschiavo and the witnesses were Antonio Marchesi and Prospero's brother Beniamino. He built a house to the north of his parent's property, and his children Luigi, Giuseppe, Beatrice and Ida were born there. But times were hard and he was forced to sell the house and move with his family back to his parents. It is now the house of Lino and Mario Lanfranchi.
  
  His mother Maria was a strong character and life was not easy with a young family. Prospero was busy in the workshop and the family flour mill, where the machinery often operated until midnight, for there were many mouths to feed. He told his children "we must eat potatoes which I can grow, instead of bread which I must buy." He possessed the qualities so admired in his father, an unrelenting capacity for hard physical work as well as frugality and patience. He would rise at four o'clock in the morning to milk his cows and then go to the mass for the "contadini" before starting work in the forge.  Marina, as well as looking after her large family, helped her mother-in-law in various ways with the running of the family shop next door.
  
  Prospero made the wrought iron doors for the chapel in Poschiavo cemetery. These are a wonderful example of his fine work. It is said that they cost 100SF, and some folk thought that was too much!.
  
  He would have liked to travel and "see the world," but this was not possible, and he took the train out of the valley only twice, the first time to Coira to attend the first mass offered by his son Don Luigi. Then in 1939 he visited the national industrial exhibition "Landi" in Zurich, established to discuss the potential impact of WW2.
  Prospero had the joy and the satisfaction of seeing the results of his own and his apprentices work around Poschiavo district, and one example is the beautiful door of the chapel in Poschiavo cemetery. He was widely known and respected as a naturally kind and hard-working man of great honesty and integrity.
  
  Prospero cared for his wife Marina who had been ill for several years. He seemed to be in robust health but died suddenly in 1940. The photograph shows him with his daughters from the left; Beatrice, Letizia and Maria.
  
  ITALIANO
  
  Prospero, terzogenito di Luigi Maria Marchesi e di Maria Dorizzi (detta "Vapurin"), manifestò presto le sue doti manuali, cosicché non cercò altre vie, ma seguì quelle di suo padre: divenne fabbro-maniscalco. Contrariamente ai suoi due fratelli maggiori, Erminio e Giuseppe, trascorse tutta la vita a Poschiavo in Cimavilla.
  In vista del matrimonio con Marina Maranta, si fece costruire una casa propria a nord di quella paterna. Lì nacquero i primi figli: Luigi, Giuseppe, Beatrice e Ida. I tempi duri lo costrinsero a vendere la casa (ora proprietà di Lino e Mario Lanfranchi) e con la famiglia si trasferì in casa paterna.
  
  Il noto carattere della madre Maria non rese facile la vita alla giovane famiglia. Marina, oltre ad accudire la numerosa famiglia aiutava la suocera nella gestione del negozio di generi vari. Prospero era attivo in officina e nel mulino di famiglia, le cui macine giravano spesso fino a mezzanotte - le bocche da sfamare erano molte!
  
  "Vedere il mondo", gli sarebbe piaciuto, ma non c'erano le possibilità. Due volte soltanto prese il treno per uscire di valle: la prima, per assistere a Coira alla celebrazione della prima Messa di suo figlio Don Luigi; la seconda quando poté visitare l'esposizione nazionale "Landi" nel 1939 a Zurigo.
  Ebbe la gioia e la soddisfazione di vedere opere forgiate dalle sue mani e da quelle dei suoi garzoni in alcuni luoghi del paese, una delle quali è la bella porta della cappella del cimitero. Fu un uomo di grande laboriosità e onestà, universalmente conosciuto e stimato anche per la sua naturale bontà e gentilezza.
  
  Prospero muore nel 1940 a Poschiavo, dopo aver accudito per diversi anni sua moglie ammalata. Nella fotografia - Beatrice, Prospero, Letizia e Maria.