Damonte died, he was the historical memory and the singer of Marano

MARANO LAGUNARE. He was the cantor of the history of Marano Lagunare and its people, whose history he told in his books, written in dialect, which went to all the continents where Marano lived.

He was Claudio Damonte, historical soul and researcher from Marano Lagunare, who died on Monday 17 January in his home following the pulmonary complications that occurred after he contracted Covid in 2020.

He lived with his son Valerio, with his other sons Fabio, Moreno and Maurizio and his nephew Morgan, to whom he was very close. He was 94 and had been a widower since 2016. The funeral will be celebrated on Wednesday 19, at 15, in the parish church of Marano.

A person of great humanity, at the time of the earthquake in Friuli he hosted some children from Buia in his home, with whom he established a bond that never failed.

“With the death of Claudio Damonte, Marano loses a piece of its history. He leaves us one of the last figures recognized as historical memory: proof of this are the countless publications, stories and articles he produced over the years and the historical photographic archive he owned “says Mayor Mauro Popesso.

“He was a helpful person and strongly attached to the traditions of our community: my heartfelt condolences and those of Marano to the family”.

Claudio Damonte was born in Marano Lagunare on 12 October 1927 from a family of workers. At 12 he went to work on a farm as a farmer. He told of having done many trades: from the farmer, to the carpenter, to the unskilled worker in the Maruzzella factory, even before seasonal.

In 1953 he emigrated to Lurago d’Erba in the province of Como, where he worked for thirteen years as a metalworker. On the death of his mother, in 1979 he returned to Marano to assist his father, as the other seven brothers emigrated to the world.

He found work as a porter, then became a worker at Maruzzella. It is 1978, from that moment he begins to write about Marano: among his most famous books, still on sale on Amazon, Ricordi, Piasse calle e vie di Marano Lagunare, My factory, Once upon a time there was tuna. ..And the Maruzzella.

For over forty years he has written for the parish newspaper “The voice of the lagoon”, about the history of Marano, its traditions and life lived. About sixty published stories of Maranese history, past and present.

But also a vocabulary from Italian to the Maranese dialect, the history of Marano, 145 games, nursery rhymes, lullabies, proverbs, idioms, tongue twisters and fathers’ prayers. “I was an emigrant – he liked to say – I know what it means to stay away from Marano. The best medicine in the world to cure the distance is to receive a newspaper that speaks of Marano in dialect”.

________________________________________