The love for the ground is engraved in the mind of each of us , That we have experienced this at first hand . Mario is a farmer Which is grown in a patriarchal family . His Family and he are farmers of a big farm in a valley of Santa Croce . It extends along the river ‘s Usciana , which has been constructed to reclaim the marshland of Fucecchio , completely with the arm strength and wheelbarrows .
After the second World War , with the economic recovery , Santa Croce is transformed into an industrial pole of leather working . The ” Santacrocesi ” ( The inhabitants of Santa Croce ) are transformed by artisans to industrials . In the fifties and sixties also the peasants , whether they like it or not , have undergone this change . They had to say goodbye to their life spent in beautiful fields , between perfect poplars , and the cattlesheds.
Mario Stefanelli, <<with big shoes and a fine mind>> as he used to say, he decided to drop his spade near to a poplar and he began an industrial profession, keeping a secret dream in a strip of his heart. Mario is thrown himself in this undertaking, like a warrior: from farmer to leathers’ worker . It would take rivers of ink to tell the sacrifices that he have faced. He have worked hard night and day to bring up his family: before the sons and than the grandchildren. Between these granchildren there is Simone. He’s son of his grandfather, who has conveyed him the love for the ground, and Simone is the heir of Mario’s dream.
In the Seventies, in spite of the flood of 1966, Santa Croce encouraged the rapid expansion of tanning industry. This was led by the work of former farmers. Mario’s dream came true: he bought a beautiful property in the municipal district of Cerreto Guidi. this is composed by sweet hills, which run down to Vinci. The heart of this place is represented by an old building on the top of the hill, and this is surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, which run down to the valley and the small lake.
Your dream, oh my dear friend, it will be completed by the hand of your beloved Simone, heir of your desire. He will build a beautiful cellar, that you have ardently desired.
” The dreams fly, the reality is hard, but the ground will give always life . “
Emilio Salvadori