Cortinese, 46, Dipol has given a dry break to a life “that did not belong to me”. Now he drives 16-meter “beasts” together with his Roberto, owner of a transport company
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO. A dry cut to a lifestyle that had been close to her for some time and a love that blossomed on board a truck. A second life, that of Gilda Dipol, which began thanks to the knowledge of Roberto and that same truck that today, proud, drives with dexterity despite its sixteen meters in length. Doc Ampezzo, Gilda is 46 years old and a few years ago she said “enough” with the work she carried out for more than twenty years in the family hotel, the San Marco. «I was tired of the usual routine», she says, «because, in addition to working in the hotel, I was also a bartender. I worked in almost all the bars in Cortina, I never spared myself until I realized that I didn’t like that life. I was not satisfied, full stop ».
Then the turning point, as in the movies, thanks to a truck that you drive proudly today …
«Let’s face it », he admits candidly with a smile on his lips,« driving a truck is not really a job for women. Yet I like it. It is a passion, that for engines, inherited from my grandfather and my uncle. They had a carpentry shop, they always went around with jeeps and trucks here in Cortina when I was little more than a child. They also came to pick me up from school ».
Twenty years after the turning point, meeting Roberto Dibona, owner of a trucking company in Cortina.
“We have been together for three years, our love was born on board a truck. Initially he would take me around, then one day I said to him: “Will you let me drive it? “. He didn’t think twice, he put me behind the wheel of sixteen meters on a small road where even a car was struggling to pass. Yet I got along well right away. I am a very proud person, I thought: “I will never ask a man for help” and so it was. I pulled that truck out of an inaccessible road in Alpago, my new life as a truck driver began there ».
The license obtained two years ago, but the “real” job started a few months ago.
“Covid has also influenced our work, luckily now things seem to be turning for the best. Life as a truck driver is tiring, the alarm clock rings at 3, three and a half. It goes on to the bitter end. Our company loads logs in the woods between Veneto and Friuli and then carries them to one of the largest Austrian sawmills, Theurl, near Lienz. It is Roberto who maneuvers the crane used to load the logs onto the trucks. Load both mine and yours, then we set off together for the sawmill. I have an excellent relationship with all my colleagues, they immediately considered me one of them, even if in the morning before going out I put the polish on my nails and earrings. I’m definitely an atypical woman because I drive a truck, but I’m still a woman. I remember very well the face of the crane operator at the sawmill when he saw me driving a sixteen meter long truck for the first time. I still think about it and laugh about it today. I like this job, even if as I have already said it is very tiring. What if I’m the only woman in the Belluno area driving a truck? In our area I only know one girl from Valdaora (in Pusteria, ed), others just don’t … ». –
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