“I Treni della Felicità” a Nonantola (Modena): un incrocio di fonti archivistiche e orali per la Public History dell’educazione

Abstract

Taking into consideration a particular experience that is part of the historical-educational heritage of Nonantola we come to a series of proposals of Public History of Education that involve City Administration, population, living witnesses and, in particular, primary and secondary school pupils. In the winters of 1946, 1947 and 1948, children arrived in Nonantola (Modena) from areas devastated by the Second World War (Lazio, Naples, Modena Apennines) who were hosted by peasant families and enrolled in the elementary schools of the country. It was an important initiative of solidarity promoted by the Italian Communist Party that saw particularly active the Emilia-Romagna region and the province of Modena. The name “Trains of Happiness” was given by the mayor of Modena Alfeo Corassori. Some of the little guests stopped to live permanently in Nonantola.