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Lafranchi family, who acted as paU-bearers." She was buried wdth her first husband
Antonio in the Eganstovm Cemetery.
Her property, in accordance with the terms of Antonio's will and prevailing
patriarchal ideology, was divided among the first-bom sons and the grandsons. Today
the Caligari home no longer stands at Eastem Hill and the family has long since moved
away ~ though the scattering of Luisa's ashes over the old farm property following her
death in 1936 symbolised the family's affection for the old home. One of Antonio and
Mary Ann's grandsons would later visit Someo, eager to see the old family home and
discover more about his ancestors.'"* While the Caligari homestead still stands in
Someo it is no longer occupied by the family members, all of them having moved
away. Even the CaUgari gravestones had been removed from the church cemetery, the
space being needed for the more recently deceased.'* Talking to some of the village
elders, such as 88 year old Fr Giorgio Cheda (cousin to Giorgio Cheda, the author
much quoted in this study), Mr CaUgari was able to leam something of his past. He
participated in some of the local traditions, drinking wine from (what he heard the
locals call) a broccaccino, a jug-shaped drinking vessel.'* He also ate at Morganti's
Cafe, it being a tangible link with the families in Australia. Despite the preservation of
old customs, he also discovered that Someo had undergone much change: responding
to the demands of tourism, the farmers' stone cottages had been transformed into
hoUday accommodation for those escaping city life. Modem, convenient and
comfortable, they were evidence of a process of change traceable back to the years of
mass emigration, when appalling poverty and the promise of riches in a new land had
forced many hundreds of Ticinesi to abandon their land.
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