FROM NAPOLEON'S COURT TO TURIN'S PRISONS: MARINA MARAZZA TELLS THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF GIULIA DI BAROLO, THE MARCHIONESS
WHO REVOLUTIONIZED BAROLO AND FOUGHT FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
«"I'm interested in writing about little-known or poorly understood characters. That's why the Marchesa Giulia di Barolo," Marina Marazza replies when I ask what inspired her to tell the story of this exceptional woman, the protagonist of Sangue delle Langhe (Solferino), the first volume of a trilogy dedicated to the Barolo family saga. A woman of many lives who, as the author writes in her novel, was first a lady-in-waiting to Joséphine de Beauharnais, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and then married to the beloved Marquis Tancredi Falletti di Barolo. Thus Juliette Colbert, born in Maulévrier, in the Catholic Vendée, arrived in Turin and became Giulia: a woman committed to improving the conditions of other women, who helped the poor and entered prisons.
We are between the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, after the French Revolution and the restoration of Piedmont under the Savoy. «Having done a lot of research, Giulia's life has surprised me too. May marks ten years since she was proclaimed venerable. That is, she began the journey toward beatification and, perhaps, sainthood.»
WHAT DID HE DO TO DESERVE THIS TITLE? She, blessed by fortune, always felt compelled to help those who weren't. And women, after all, were the ones who suffered the most. She taught inmates to read and write, and there, in prison, she brought about a revolution of sorts: she demanded justice, the speeding up of trials. She had an Enlightenment mindset: she believed in re-education, in transformation. Not only did she care for orphans, but, with her husband Tancredi, she opened—even before Ferrante Aporti—a kindergarten in their building. Together, they also founded vocational schools, where young people could learn a trade, avoiding living by their wits and ending up in prison. Finally, they created shelters for ex-convicts. In short, they were a very modern couple.
And – we will see it in the second volume – Giulia will also found an order of nuns and collaborate with Don Bosco…»
A TIRELESS WOMAN She was a great visionary. One of those people with the gift of making the seemingly impossible possible. She was powerful, even financially, and her husband fully supported her. She put her "riches" at the service of others.
WHAT ABOUT BAROLO WINE? "She was extraordinary in this too. She transformed Barolo from a light, sparkling wine into the important wine we know today. Buy the winemaking machine from Mademoiselle Gervais and makes it a "storable" wine, to be produced and sold. But, once again, that profit isn't used to further enrich themselves, but to do good."
