“Mezzina”
If it is true – and I am convinced of this – that the history of small objects is indispensable for the composition of the great history, the mezzina was an artefact that tells us so much about peasant civilisation: a copper jug that was present in every farmhouse; it tells us of the work and of hands – especially women’s hands – that were marked by the weight of carrying the mezzina to reach wells or fountains from which to draw on a vital commodity: water.
