👀 A special regard for schooling
Over the centuries, the people of Acceglio have always placed great importance on education. Statistics indicate that in 1861, with the unification of Italy, 80 per cent of Italian men were illiterate; in Acceglio, their proportion did not reach 10 per cent, while the rate was higher among women. Official figures did not take into account the widespread custom of evening gatherings. During these meetings in the cowsheds, over the long winter period, those who could read, write and do arithmetic taught others – children and adults – thereby developing the most elementary school skills.
✝️ Languages and dissemination
It appears that the Capuchins, sent by the House of Savoy in the seventeenth century to counter Calvinist movements in the area, helped spread Italian in such a marginal and isolated region (bearing in mind that a carriage road only reached Acceglio in 1896). Until then, the spoken language was Occitan and, in part, French, due to proximity and exchanges with France, particularly Provence. Indeed, until the mid-nineteenth century it took a day’s walk to reach Dronero, as it did to reach Barcelonnette in France.
🏫 A fundamental legacy (1863)
The year 1863 marks a very important event for the community: the will of Davide Calandra, a native of Acceglio, who decided to devote his estate to a charitable work ensuring the construction of schools within the municipality and free education for all children – boys and girls alike.