SALCE IN OUR HEARTS — The village we once knew
When a community came together to insure its cattle
Losing a cow could mean a serious setback for a farming household. In Salce, families found a shared response: helping members whose cattle died through illness or injury. They called their association the mutua dei bistian, the local dialect name for a cattle mutual. Its story survives in Col Maòr, where Paolo Tormen wrote about it in March 2005 in the rural history series “Quando tuti se avea ’na vacheta”.
14 July 1960: the Mutual is founded
On 14 July 1960, the approval of its statutes formally established the “Società Mutua di Assicurazione sugli infortuni e malattie degli animali”. The idea had emerged a couple of years earlier during a local animal husbandry course promoted by the agricultural inspectorate. The aim was straightforward: compensate members who lost cattle through illness or injury. A risk borne by one household became a shared responsibility.
Nine men, a whole community
The first board consisted of Silvio Toffoli, Giuseppe Carlin, Sperandio Dell’Eva, Cesare Colbertaldo, Paolo Bortot, Costante Bortot, Ugo Dallo, Angelo Roni and Giacomo Dal Pont. Giacomo Dal Pont was also its first elected president. These names open a path towards understanding the people who organised everyday life in the community. Other sources already allow us to trace Silvio Toffoli’s story. Connections involving the other men still need evidence; a shared name alone is not enough.
79 families and more than 400 animals
Around 1970, at its greatest reach, the Mutual had 79 member families from Salce, Col di Salce, Giamosa, Bettin, Casarine, Bes, Sois and Col del Vin. They owned 226 adult cattle and 175 young animals: 401 in total. Tormen also connected this widespread household farming with the careful cultivation of local grassland needed to provide fodder.
A wooden chest full of memories
In 2005, Tormen described records that had spent about twenty years in a dusty wooden chest: statutes, minutes of assemblies and board meetings, accounts and financial reports. Handwritten pages recorded animal weights, the causes of losses, difficult births and problems in the cattle sheds. The effort of keeping those records also revealed the responsibility taken by people more accustomed to working in the fields. Activity ceased in the 1980s. Tormen stated in 2005 that the association had never been formally dissolved. The present whereabouts of its records remain unknown.
Silvio Toffoli “Velico”: a name with a story
In June 2005, Roberto De Nart recorded the testimony of Silvio Toffoli “Velico”, who had served in the 77ª Compagnia, Battaglione Belluno, 7° Alpini. A remembrance signed C.E. in October 2010 establishes his connection with the Mutual. Born in Vittorio Veneto on 11 June 1921, he arrived in Salce in 1939 and worked in the fields at Cerentin, Col di Salce. He was an administrator of the local dairy cooperative and a founder of the “Mutua delle vacche”. The same source remembers him as a founding member of the Gruppo Alpini. Military service, farming and community work meet in this documented life.
Salce, a community
MEMORIA grows by connecting people, places, photographs, newspapers, records and families. A name in a newspaper can lead to a place and an association; a minute book may reveal who took a decision. The Mutual brings eight places into one story, with a documented connection to the Gruppo Alpini through Silvio Toffoli. The stories of MEMORIA will grow as further evidence is found. Family recollections help guide the search and will be checked before being presented as established facts.
Where did those records go?
The wooden chest described in 2005 has not yet been located in the current research. Do you keep statutes, minutes, membership cards, accounts, lists of members, photographs or receipts? Do you know who holds the records, or have a family recollection of the Mutual? Please contact the Gruppo Alpini Salce, identifying the source and period of the recollection where possible. Recognising the man or courtyard in the photograph would also provide a useful lead.
The Mutual was more than insurance. It was a form of village solidarity.
