This is the last volume in the series “Studies and Research into Veneto Popular Cultures”, produced under the patronage of the Veneto Region. Published by Angelo Colla editore, Vicenza, the book is a fundamental contribution to knowledge and understanding of the world of Veneto peasants, especially in the two-year period 1921-22, which otherwise would have been destined to oblivion. This was a time, just after the First World War, when the countryside saw the rapid rise of factories with all the overwhelming attendant repercussions for rural life.
The result of systematic investigations carried out initially for the fi rst “Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy”, the book contains the comprehensive graphic and photographic documentation produced in a study by the Zurich historian Paul Scheuermeier (1888-1973). An accomplished linguist by training and a sensitive photographer, Scheuermeier approached this work by seeking the services of a skilled draughtsman for the illustrations of farm equipment.
The book offers a snapshot of farming activities in the plains, undulating hills and mountainous areas of the Veneto. In this overview, there is a special ethnographic focus on the village of Mirano. The Swiss historian has constructed a very effective fresco
documenting and interpreting rural life in the period. The picture is further enhanced in essays on the local dialect and the material culture written by a number of specialists: Glauco Sanga, Daniela Perco, Danilo Gasparini, Alberto Zamboni, Maria Teresa Vigolo
and Carla Gentili.