‘Marito carissimo…’

Much has already been written and said about the confectioners in Grisons, but little is known about the female figures in these tales. Who knows what life was like for Anna Redolfi from Coltura? She had to take care of herself and her little daughter alone while her husband Agostino worked in Bergamo. In some cases, the confectioners’ wives travelled with their husbands around Europe, discovering new places and flavours. Others, however, stayed at home, where they sometimes gained a new-found sense of independence, especially in the absence of their husbands. Many women began to manage the family estate, write and do arithmetic, and took on tasks in the community that until then had been reserved exclusively for men.

Little is known about Anna. From a letter to her husband we learn that she was in good health, was worried about her father’s condition and hoped to see her much-loved spouse again in the spring. In spite of the few details and the 275 years that separate us from her, she seems to return to life before our eyes with this letter, which has become yellow with the passing of time.

It is easy to imagine Anna sitting by the fireplace in her parlour in Bregaglia on 27 February 1750, the crackling of the flames mixing with the scratching of pen on paper. ‘Marito carissimo’ she began, perhaps pausing to glance at the snowflakes that were falling in the wintery clime. And who knows: perhaps Agostino watched the same snow fall on the other side of the Bergamo Alps.