Fernando Marcantonio, his wicker baskets, and broom

…named Fernando Marcantonio, aged 95, residing in a remote small Abruzzian village learned how to make baskets from his father and grandfather when he was young – something that they did by necessity, to contain everything that needed containing at home (ricotta, figs, olives, grain…) – but then he entered into the family’s farming life – went to the war, returned home on foot – and continued farming throughout his life, but a few years ago his wife died and he entered a deep depression, that he didn’t emerge from until he returned to basket making at his son’s encouragement, which seems to have transformed and revived him, keeping him busy and focused all day in his shop creating the classic baskets he first learned to make almost a century ago, then for necessity, but now for pleasure…this story drawing us to make the two hours drive to visit him today for our Domestic Integrities research, arriving unannounced, asking him questions about his work (like “how long did it take you to make this?” while pointing to a simple small basket – to which he responded “a year,” since this long involved complex process actually starts with the planting and tending of various types of cane and plants used for his wicker), but the first thing that really struck me, was the feel of his fingers when we shook hands, clearly those of a man who has been using them all of his life in a way that we just don’t any more.