Country
Italy

Tale typology
Local traditions

Age Suitability
5

Tale summary
The turkeys of 1952 From “Tirreno” (newspaper of Livorno) Tuesday 16 December 1952 Last night during a terrible storm a ship anchored in front of accademia navale was slammed to the Regina rock. Because of the wind at 150 km the bow of the ship hit the rocks 30 mt away from the pier. There was a terrible shipwreck but the crew was saved. Livorno: there was poverty at that time but the American ship gave away to Livorno a Christmas with very big turkeys. These turkeys were intended for American families but the wind pushed them from the sea along a ditch to the houses near the stadium. We took 50 turkeys but there wasn’ t the fridge so we cooked them all day to conserve with lard. In these time we ate chicken only in Christmas.

Educational potential / Learning Outcomes
Overcoming adversity with the help of others.
To know the habits of the past and the conditions of life.

Full Plot
"At 2:50 a.m. last night, under the force of an impetuous libeccio and an impressive storm,
a ship that was anchored in front of the Naval Academy, in Livorno, was launched against
the rock "Regina", two hundred meters from the moletto of the same academy.
After about an hour that she was now nailed to the mercy of time, under the anger of a
sea that even reached force 10 and the continuous pressure of the wind that reached 150
kilometers per hour, the forward part of the ship crashed with a roar that overcame the roar
incessant waves and drifted to the point of crashing into the rocks thirty meters from the
moletto. From the extreme stern to the half-ship the steam remained still nailed to the rock where
and he'd been pounding on it.
A terrible shipwreck in the waters in front of Livorno: the crew was saved
"There was a misery to bite the teeth and the shipwreck of that American ship gave to the
"I'm going to liven up a Christmas bite with extra-large turkeys. It was December '52 "Those
turkeys were intended for the Christmas tables of the U.S. military: instead they ended up in the kitchens of many
Leghorn families", as told by a Leghorn citizen of the time, "The libecciata pushed the turkeys backwards
from the sea along the moat that ran into the stadium area and is now tombed. We lived on the way
Toti, they took 200 kilos of salted butter and about fifty turkeys: we didn't have them so big.
that you never even imagined. But there was no fridge: and then the house cooked turkeys at every hour of the day.
day and night to put them in lard and store them like this. It wasn't simple, the stove
was charcoal and wood." For comparison: "We ate chicken only at Christmas, we
"even in the coldest of climates, we were in short pants and clogs...".

One Lesson Plan
- Pictorial activity (the boat, the sea, the houses)
- Graphic activity (men and women)
- Cutout and collage activities (men, houses, boat and turkeys)
- Construction of a plastic and assembly of the elements