The sense of community

The population accepted the exodus towards tourist resorts and the harsh living conditions in the temporary villages in September 1976 with discipline and a sense of duty. There were very few reactions of protest, limited to specific situations of difficulty. Contrary to fears, the diaspora did not take place; only a small percentage followed the traditional routes of emigration, and almost all returned to their places of origin, even if only to occupy the uncomfortable prefabricated units. The “exile” lasted about six months.

In the spring of 1977, around 400 villages were under construction, and in part already completed, with 25,000 prefabricated housing units of about 35 square metres, capable of accommodating three or four people each. From Yugoslavia, prefabricated houses manufactured by the company Krivaja were delivered to several towns, such as Dogna. Available in two sizes, 36 and 53 square metres, they were assembled by the company's workers and proved to be very popular. At the close of the reconstruction, some prefabricated villages were not dismantled but were instead allocated for tourist or residential use.

The caravans used for the initial emergency were almost always returned to their owners in excellent condition, often accompanied by a small bunch of fresh flowers as a gesture of thanks from the people who had used them for about a year. Ten years later, once reconstruction was complete, the Region would dismantle the temporary settlements, clear and remediate the occupied areas, and pay compensation to the landowners.

Sixty ‘Community centres’, each comprising a hall, two rooms and a storage area, were installed in prefabricated buildings in all the main affected localities. These multi-purpose facilities allowed children to meet to study and adults to receive assistance, hold discussions, take part in collective events or simply enjoy each other’s company. Temporary bases were also provided for municipal offices, and classrooms were set up for school activities where these were lacking.

The Tent Camp Committees came into being in the first temporary settlements as early as the first earthquake. They found ways to connect with volunteers, private donations and institutional relief efforts, demonstrating solidarity. The Majano Operations Centre, which Zamberletti said would be the model for the Italian Civil Protection, founded in the early 1980s, was supported by volunteers who distributed basic necessities to the entire population affected by the earthquake. These supplies arrived at the municipal warehouses within a few days.

The solidarity that emerged in the tent camps occupied by the earthquake victims during the summer and autumn of 1976, and the following winter (the period of the emergency and the exodus), was the glue that gave life to a “grassroots movement”. A true social laboratory took shape, anticipating forms of popular participation that would only be realised much later. Spontaneous Tent Camp Committees were formed, alongside the Tent Camp Coordination Committee (which was also active in the places of exodus) and the Coordination Committee of earthquake-affected towns. These bodies found a voice and a means of expression in the «Tent Camp Bulletin» and «Coordination Committee Bulletin», which were distributed daily among the earthquake victims in the villages, alongside the parish bulletins.

During those months, a railway worker named Francesco Gubiani gathered together all the posters, cyclostyled sheets, leaflets and minutes of meetings produced during that turbulent period, and these are now preserved at the “DonValentino Baldissera” Public Library in Gemona. Similarly, the photographer Igor Londero collected and published many oral and written testimonies from that same moment in history.

During those months, the “int”, meaning the “people” in Friulian, became the true protagonists. Through their daily efforts, the communities in the temporary settlements were able to reunite. Building the tent camps close to the destroyed houses and towns certainly facilitated this important social experience, ensuring continuity with the physical, visual and social bonds that the survivors wished to maintain with their familiar surroundings. In this way, the strength and quality of the “ancient microcosms” present in these lands were renewed. The “int” of Friuli overcame the traumatic experience of the earthquake by establishing a brief yet significant “summer” of participatory democracy.

The Friulian Church, led by Bishop Alfredo Battisti, played a central role in the life of these communities. The Friulian priests, the “predis furlans” of the churches and parishes, were pillars of community life, and found their coordinating voice in La Vita Cattolica, the diocesan newspaper directed by Don Duilio Corgnali. After the mourning for the many victims, parish activities resumed amid hardship. The parish priests were divided between those who had remained locally and those who had been forced to leave, but pastoral life continued to mark the rhythm of life in the towns as tradition dictated. The nuns, whether in tent camps or places where earthquake victims spent the winter, carried out invaluable work. Volunteer groups were formed to support the municipal committees responsible for assistance and reconstruction.

It was a Church undergoing profound transformation, the Friulian Church, which at every opportunity asserted its close bond with the land and the people, for example, by putting forward the request to be allowed to celebrate Mass in the Friulian language. A few years earlier, in 1968, the Motion of the 529 parish priests had denounced, in a document that sparked wide debate, the still-open wound of emigration and the damage caused to the territory by military servitudes. It was the “Glesie fur-lane” (Friulian Church), the clergy closest to the people, who launched the motto which would indicate the path of reconstruction: «first the houses and then the churches».

The image of a static Friuli, a society frozen in tradition and preservation, could not be further from the truth. Like the rest of Italy, Friulian society was already marked by the tensions of a modernisation process, albeit delayed compared to other areas of the country, by the mid-1970s. Elements already in motion included a new role for women in the world of work, the breakdown of the traditional peasant family model, and a higher level of education among younger generations. As in the rest of Italy, old and new mixed together in the communities of the “temporary settlements”, in the response of the Region to the tragedy, and in the transformations foreshadowed by reconstruction.

Another factor that invigorated community life was the social group of young Friulians studying at universities in Trieste, Padua, Venice, Bologna, Florence and Milan. They were the first generation to access widespread higher education, having experienced the demonstrations and major protests that swept through the Italian university system after 1968 and 1969. They joined the volunteers from a wide range of movements, such as Comunione e Liberazione (Communion and Liberation), Lotta Continua (Permanent Fight), Democrazia Proletaria (Proletarian Democracy), the Scouts, Cani Sciolti (Free dogs) and the alpine troops in reserve mentioned previously. These different groups came together through debates, sermons in church, cyclostyled sheets and social gatherings during after-school activities, in rebuilt taverns and in new shared spaces in daily life, such as washhouses, fountains, canteens, dormitories, community centres, shops and buses taken each day to reach workplaces.

These young people brought new stimuli into the tent camps, an open vision of Italy, and often a strong critical stance towards “high” politics, that of the parties and of Rome. Together with the ever-growing number of secondary school students in the province, these children of the baby boom played a decisive role in transforming life in the tent camps into an experience of community that would leave a deep mark on the individual and collective memory of the earthquake.

This desire among the people to establish a public university in Friuli was a direct expression of this commitment. Despite their grief, hardship and displacement, it was the earthquake victims themselves who called for renewed efforts to collect signatures for a popular initiative law to establish the university. By July 10, thanks in part to signatures collected from people who had been forced to leave their homes and those living in the tent cities, the bill had gathered 125,000 signatures and was presented to Parliament on August 11 1976. However, it was only with the “Reconstruction” law that the State University of Udine was established in the 1977–78 academic year. This new institution has contributed to the civil, social and economic progress of Friuli, becoming an essential tool for developing and renewing the original strands of Friulian culture, language, traditions and history.

On April 30 1977, the state of emergency was officially lifted, and it became necessary to provide people in Friuli with shelter, even if it was not yet in the form of rebuilt homes: the settlement landscape featured about twenty different models of prefabricated buildings, set up next to railway carriages, metal boxes, caravans or self-built shacks.

While the prefabricated buildings were still being assembled, the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia introduced a new legislation, namely Law No. 30 dated June 20 1977, New procedures for the structural and functional restoration of buildings impacted by earthquakes. This measure was subsequently approved by the Italian Parliament (Law No. 546 dated August 81977). Subsequently, Regional Law No. 63 (approved on December 23 1977) provided the general guidelines for the new post-earthquake phase, setting in motion the necessary measures. At this point, it was clear to everyone that reconstruction could not and should not be an improvised process.